Entwicklung und Validierung eines Testinstruments zur Erfassung des evolutionsbezogenen Professionswissens von Lehramtsstudierenden (ProWiE)

Evolution is a central topic in biology teacher education and school biology lessons. However, national and international studies have shown that not only ordinary people but also biology teachers have difficulties to understand the theory of evolution. Based on research in content-related professional knowledge, the present study aimed developing a test instrument to detect the evolution-related professional knowledge (content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge) by pre-service biology teachers in an objective, reliable, and valid manner. The test instrument ProWiE (German acronym for professional knowledge in evolution) based on a three-dimensional task grid including the dimensions “facets”, “areas”, and “cognitive processes”. A coding schema was used to ensure the objectivity of the scoring process. Furthermore, intercoder reliability was determined for open-ended questions. The instrument was presented to pre-service biology teachers (N = 104) at four German university locations for validation. The psychometric properties of the test instrument were ‘satisfactory’ (Cronbach’s α = 0.87 for content knowledge; Cronbach α = 0.79 for pedagogical content knowledge). Correlation analyses suggested a good criterion and construct validity of the instrument: (a) Content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge were correlated substantially. (b) Personal performance indicators related to university studies were predictive for both domains of knowledge. (c) Creationist and scientism beliefs were negatively related to both domains of knowledge. Since this test instrument covers several central topics of evolution, it can be regarded as a first step towards an efficient analysis of the German biology teacher education.