Development of “Task Value” Instrument for Biology as a School Subject - Issue 2 - Development of Instrument

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri

The expectancy-value model of motivation links students’ choices, persistence, and performances to beliefs about task value. Despite the relevance of task value in biology learning, instruments suitable for high school biology courses were lacking. This study developed a task value instrument for high school biology and administered it to 189 ninth-grade students alongside self-efficacy and test anxiety scales. Validity was evaluated using confirmatory, divergent, and convergent analyses, with internal consistency via Cronbach’s alpha.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Expectancy-value model and motivation

Task value components

Related research and biology education context

Volume 6, Number 2, 2013 DEVELOPMENT OF “TASK VALUE” INSTRUMENT FOR BIOLOGY AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT Mustafa Serdar Köksal , Süleyman Yaman Abstract. The expectancy-value model of motivation states that individuals’ choice, persistence and performances are related to their beliefs about how much they value task. Despite the importance of “task value” in learning biology, lack of the instruments on task value for highschool biology courses for practical use indicated requirement to develop an instrument. The purpose of this study is development of “task value” instrument for using in high school biology courses. The study was conducted on 189 ninth grade high school students by applying “task value” instrument, self-efficacy and test anxiety scales. To collect validity evidence, confirmatory, divergent and convergent validity analyses were performed while internal consistency was determined by Cronbach alpha reliability analysis. The results showed that scores on the instrument with 18 items loaded on three factors (importance, interest and utility) and Cronbach alpha values were .64 for importance aspect, .88 for interest aspect and .84 for utility aspect. Based on the findings, it can be suggested that the instrument can be used to determine current motivational status of the students and to predict future performances, efforts and persistence on biology tasks. Key Words: task value, biology learning, high school, instrument development 1. Introduction Biology as a scientific discipline has been providing many important innovations for our lives by studies in its basic fields; genetics, biotechnology, molecular biology, microbiology and biochemistry. By famous studies of these fields such as cloning, gene transfer, prevention of microbial diseases and proteomics, they became popular and then entered into daily life with some discussions on important issues such as ethical problems and side effects of genetic engineering products. With pros and cons, learning biology for daily life became a need in today’s world. Although learning biology begins at elementary grades, under the title of biology, it begins to occur in high school years. High biology lessons are the most important contexts for learning biology. Biology learning in high school includes many factors which are determinants of learning quality. These can be classified as affective and cognitive factors. For the cognitive domain, reasoning ability, information processing and academic achievement are among the most studied constructs [1,2,3,4,5] . Under the affective title, some welldefined constructs are included. The most frequently emphasized factors of affective domain in science and biology education literature are attitude, self-efficacy, anxiety and motivation [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] . As an affective factor, motivation desires a discrete attention, because motivation to learn is regarded as the single biggest determinant of whether or not a student will learn biology [13] and the overweighed any cognitive variables [14] . Giving more importance to motivation for science education over the other affective factors in science education was also suggested by some researchers [10] . Motivation is defined as the process which instigates and sustains a goal directed activity [15] . Motivational factors are explained, presented and defined in many models [16,17,18,19] . One of the most studied model; expectancy-value model that see the individual as an active and rational decision maker presents a good reflective model for explaining the motivational situation of individuals who have been gaining, using and constructing knowledge for their daily lives by themselves [15] . The model states that individuals’ choice, persistence and performance can be explained by their beliefs about how well they do task and how much they value task. The model claims that expectancies and values influence directly achievement choices, performance, effort and persistence [19]

FAQs

What is the purpose of developing the “task value” instrument in this study?

To develop an instrument that can be used in high school biology courses for assessing task value.

How was the instrument validated and tested for reliability?

Confirmatory, divergent, and convergent validity analyses were performed, and internal consistency was determined using Cronbach alpha reliability analysis.

What factors and reliability results were found for the instrument?

Scores loaded onto three factors—importance, interest, and utility—with Cronbach alpha values of 0.64, 0.88, and 0.84 respectively.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri