Thesis
Factor analysis and dimensionality assessment of teachers’ support for student agency
University of Iowa
Master of Arts (MA), University of Iowa
Spring 2022
DOI: 10.25820/etd.006544
Abstract
Classroom environments that support student agency provide more opportunities for students to engage critically with content, generate knowledge, and use scientific skills as tools for learning. However, there is a lack of measurement instruments that can quantitatively track teachers’ support for student agency, and little empirical information is available regarding how the measurement of support for student agency might interact with other aspects of teachers’ beliefs and practices. This study used item factor analysis for categorical survey data to assess the dimensionality of instruments measuring teachers’ understanding of epistemic learning tools, paying particular attention to the theoretical construct of support for student agency. Alternative structural models were used to investigate the presence of a factor measuring teachers’ support for student agency, as well as its relation to that of teachers’ understanding of epistemic learning tools. Based on the findings, a revised 14-item tool is proposed to measure teachers’ support for student agency. Additionally, support for student agency was found to be best described as a general factor representing covariance shared between all selected items, and understanding of language and dialogue as epistemic tools were best described as specific factors. However, it was challenging to distinguish understanding of some epistemic tools from support for student agency. These findings emphasize the need to articulate teachers’ roles in supporting student agency and to develop measurement tools that can successfully distinguish it from other pedagogical actions.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Factor analysis and dimensionality assessment of teachers’ support for student agency
- Creators
- Andrea Malek Ash
- Contributors
- Lesa Hoffman (Advisor)Jonathan Templin (Committee Member)Ariel Aloe (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Arts (MA), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Psychological and Quantitative Foundations (Educational Measurement and Statistics)
- Date degree season
- Spring 2022
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.006544
- Number of pages
- vii, 40 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2022 Andrea Malek Ash
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 38-40).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
Students do their best in science classrooms when they feel empowered to be owners and creators of science knowledge. Teachers are instrumental in supporting this sense of agency, and they often go to professional development (PD) workshops to improve their skills in this area and others. Yet, researchers and PD developers have limited methods to track teacher progress in building their support for student agency or to determine whether PD workshops on the topic are functioning well. This study examined existing survey items to determine if they could measure support for student agency as a separate construct amongst other constructs. Findings suggested that 14 of the items could successfully measure a single construct hypothesized to represent teachers’ support for student agency. However, it was challenging to empirically distinguish support for student agency from other positive teaching approaches that can also benefit students. These findings add knowledge of possible avenues for and limitations to measuring support for student agency. They also further emphasize the need to articulate the unique benefits of supporting student agency relative to other positive teaching approaches.
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Record Identifier
- 9984271255702771
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