Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of virtual simulations: Design and validation of a questionnaire.

Abstract

Virtual simulations in science classes are not used as often as might be expected if we consider the demonstrated improvement in students’ conceptual learning, the development of their skills, and their acquisition of positive emotions. This makes it necessary to identify teachers’ attitudes and perceptions to the use of these tools. The aim of this work is to construct and validate an instrument for measuring the attitudes of secondary education teachers towards the use of virtual simulations in STEM fields. Based on an in-depth theoretical review, we developed an initial questionnaire that was subjected to a process of expert validation and a pilot study. A questionnaire comprising 27 items was obtained, which was applied to 783 secondary school teachers in Spain. After carrying out confirmatory factor analysis, a scale comprising five factors was obtained. The psychometric analyses displayed satisfactory fit indices that prove the discriminant and convergent validity of the model. The result is a useful instrument for determining the principal factors that discourage teachers from habitually using simulations. This enables the design of training proposals that take teachers’ prior attitudes into account.