Chemistry test items development: Assessing conceptual understanding among Malaysian students

Abstract

TIMSS has reported that, Malaysian students' achievement in science has exceeded the international average; however, it was still far behind its neighbouring country Singapore which is on the top three ranking. This paperwork aims to develop and validate instruments to assess the level of empowerment for chemistry-content knowledge. The instruments were adapted from previous researches on Conceptual Alternative in chemistry content knowledge. The test was administered to a group of 134 Form Five students who took chemistry subject in school. Development of a good research tool for Chemistry Content Test (CCT) needs analyses of the 31 items to find the reliability and validity values. This article discussed the steps in the item development process and a summary of how Rasch Modelling were applied to analyze the items. The implication of this research is that teachers can use the CCT as a guideline to develop questions that are needed for teaching and learning.