Young Adolescents' Intentional Use of Science News

Profiling adolescent students' intentional use of science news reports can inform science news-infused instruction. This study reports on the development and validation of a Views of Science News Instruction Questionnaire (VSNIQ) designed to explore Grade 7 (12–13 years old) students' views of reasoning with respect to science news. Forty items based on related literature, an expert's comments, and interviews of students with different achievement levels were developed. A pilot study of Grade 7 students (N = 415) identified eight items that did not meet reliability, discrimination, and difficulty expectations. The final 32-item VSNIQ was administered to 391 Grade 7 students taught by 4 different teachers using different instructional approaches in a Taiwanese secondary school. A confirmatory factor analysis of student responses revealed four dimensions (interest, authority, judgment, and practicality) aligned with the original design structure. Cronbach α analyses revealed internal consistency values of the overall questionnaire and subscales (0.86, 0.92, 0.87, 0.93, and 0.81). Discriminate validity was adequate to detect differences in the performance of groups of students taught by instruction systematically supplemented with respect to science news and similar students taught by conventional instruction without systematic usage of science news articles. Overall, Taiwanese Grade 7 students hold moderate views of using science news (total score M = 92.77. SD = 16.46). A systematic science news instruction that addresses the intentionality of learners to apply science knowledge and actively interact with authors' ideas would enhance students' use of science news (F(3,387) = 9.16, p <.001, η²_p=.07).