THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANALYTICAL THINKING TEST IN PHYSICS FOR MATHAYOMSUKSA 4 STUDENTS IN PHRA NAKHON SI AYUTTHAYA PROVINCE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to construct, to validate, to establish the local norms, including to construct the manual of the analytical thinking test in Physics for Mathayomsuksa 4 students in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. Using multi-stage random sampling method, research samples for scale validation and norms construction were consisted of 799 Matthayomsuksa 4 students who studied in school in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya in first semester, academic year 2017. The constructed test comprised 50 items, aimed to assess 5 analytical thinking composition in Physics within the subjects of Forces and Motion; Matching, Classification, Error Analysis, Generalizing, and Specifying. Each composition comprised 10 items. The research results showed that the constructed analytical thinking test was the soundness test that could be efficiently used to assess the analytical thinking in Physics of Matthayomsuksa 4 students. The significant findings were as follow: The content validity of the test, calculated by the Item-objective Congruence index (IOC), were in the range of 0.60-1.00. The item difficulty indices were in the range of 0.32-0.72. The item discrimination indices were in the range of 0.34-0.77. The construct validity of the test, investigated by confirmatory factor analysis, revealed that construct validity of the analytical thinking test was achieved by Chi-square (with df of 1,066) of 1,061 (P=0.53351); Standardized RMR of 0.044; RMSEA of 0.00; GFI of 0.90; and AGFI of 0.88. The reliability for the matching, classification, error analysis, generalizing, and specifying were 0.94, 0.75, 0.81, 0.71, and 0.76, respectively, and for the whole test was 0.94. The local norms were in the range of T13-T78 T12-T81 T13-T34 T11-T80 and T13-T82, respectively, and for the whole test were in the range of T4-T88. The manual of the test was suitable, fully contained the important compositions, easy to understand, and convenient for usability.