Assessing engineering thinking in the context of biology among senior high school students in mainland China: development and validation of a two-tier assessment scale and the relationship between self-efficacy and practical performance Article Swipe
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· 2025
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1591073
This study designed and validated the Engineering Thinking Assessment Scale (ETAS) to assess the engineering thinking of senior high school students in mainland China and to explore the correlation between their self-efficacy in different engineering thinking elements and their practical performance. The ETAS, comprising 28 items, was designed through four phases: defining dimensions, designing, pilot testing, and final assessment. Each item includes two tiers: the emotional tendency tier, measuring self-efficacy, and the practical performance tier, assessing actual application in engineering projects. A study with 510 students (485 valid responses) confirmed the scale's strong reliability and validity. While most students demonstrated above-average engineering thinking, higher self-efficacy did not consistently translate to better performance. Notably, 10 engineering thinking elements showed weak correlations (0.2 < |r| < 0.3) between self-efficacy and performance, indicating confidence without effective application. This study offers a detailed evaluation of engineering thinking abilities, highlighting gaps between perceived and actual competency in specific engineering elements.
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- Type
- article
- Language
- en
- Landing Page
- https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1591073
- https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1591073/pdf
- OA Status
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- References
- 48
- OpenAlex ID
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Raw OpenAlex JSON
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https://openalex.org/W4414677828Canonical identifier for this work in OpenAlex
- DOI
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https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1591073Digital Object Identifier
- Title
-
Assessing engineering thinking in the context of biology among senior high school students in mainland China: development and validation of a two-tier assessment scale and the relationship between self-efficacy and practical performanceWork title
- Type
-
articleOpenAlex work type
- Language
-
enPrimary language
- Publication year
-
2025Year of publication
- Publication date
-
2025-09-30Full publication date if available
- Authors
-
H. Ma, Liu Wen-cheng, Lei Zhu, Lu Yang, LI Gao-fengList of authors in order
- Landing page
-
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1591073Publisher landing page
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https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1591073/pdfDirect link to full text PDF
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YesWhether a free full text is available
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goldOpen access status per OpenAlex
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https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1591073/pdfDirect OA link when available
- Cited by
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0Total citation count in OpenAlex
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48Number of works referenced by this work
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| abstract_inverted_index.performance, | 128 |
| abstract_inverted_index.performance. | 40, 111 |
| abstract_inverted_index.above-average | 100 |
| abstract_inverted_index.self-efficacy | 31, 104, 126 |
| abstract_inverted_index.self-efficacy, | 69 |
| cited_by_percentile_year | |
| corresponding_author_ids | https://openalex.org/A5100726487 |
| countries_distinct_count | 1 |
| institutions_distinct_count | 5 |
| corresponding_institution_ids | https://openalex.org/I88830068 |
| citation_normalized_percentile.value | 0.49636267 |
| citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_1_percent | False |
| citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_10_percent | False |