Assessing what prospective laboratory assistants in biochemistry and cell biology know: development and validation of the test instrument PROKLAS.

Autor/inn/en	Gantner, Stefan; Großschedl, Jörg; Chakraverty, Devasmita; Harms, Ute
Titel	Assessing what prospective laboratory assistants in biochemistry and cell biology know: development and validation of the test instrument PROKLAS.
Quelle	In: Empirical research in vocational education and training, 8 (2016) 1, 20 S.Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1877-6345
DOI	10.1186/s40461-016-0029-9
URN	urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-126828
Schlagwörter	Erhebungsinstrument; Kompetenzmessung; Fachwissen; Zellbiologie; Biochemie; Datenverwaltung; Laborarbeit; Berufsbildung; Biologielaborant; Laborberuf; Verantwortungsbewusstsein
Abstract	Background: Laboratory assistants in biology and medicine play a central role in the operation of laboratories in hospitals, research institutes, and industries. Their daily work routine is characterized by dealing with molecular structures/chemical substances (i.e. biochemistry) as well as cell cultures (i.e. cell biology). In both these fields of biochemistry and cell biology, laboratory assistants rely on knowledge about three laboratory tasks: responsible action, data management, and laboratory techniques. Focusing on these laboratory tasks, we developed a test instrument measuring the professional knowledge of prospective laboratory assistants (acronym: PROKLAS) about biochemistry and cell biology. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicates that the test developed allows us to measure the professional knowledge of laboratory assistants in biochemistry and cell biology as two empirically separable constructs among laboratory assistants. CFA with covariates widely confirms the validity of PROKLAS in its respective subscales. Firstly, VET-related covariates predicted biochemistry and cell biology scores of students considerably better compared to the covariates related to general secondary school. Secondly, general biological knowledge predicted biochemistry and cell biology scores of PROKLAS. Finally, VET students' self-efficacy in laboratory tasks and their opportunities to learn laboratory tasks are positively correlated to achievement in PROKLAS. However, we found a similar relationship for self-efficacy in English too. (IPN/Orig.).
Erfasst von	DIPF \| Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2017/2