ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Development of a multidimensional questionnaire on students' perceived authenticity in science learning contexts
Provisionally accepted
- 1Didactics of Physics and Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- 2DLR_School_Lab, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Weßling, Germany
- 3Learning and Teaching with Media, Department of Education, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Neubiberg, Germany
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Authentic learning environments are recognized as effective for increasing students' interest and engagement in science education. However, the development and improvement of such environments are constrained by the absence of robust and comprehensive measurement tools for students' perceptions of authenticity. Existing instruments often do not capture the multidimensional nature of authenticity. A recently developed questionnaire by Finger et al. (2022) represents the first validated attempt to operationalize authenticity as a multidimensional construct in educational contexts. Yet, this instrument does not address all theoretically relevant aspects of authenticity identified in established models. In this study, we therefore develop and validate an adapted and extended version of this questionnaire, designed to measure students' perceived authenticity in learning settings. The revised instrument incorporates three additional dimensions – methods, materials and content – alongside the original dimensions of location, instructor and innovation. Data were collected from N = 146 secondary school students at an out-of-school laboratory in Germany. Confirmatory factor analysis supports a six-factor solution that aligns with the hypothesized model, with internal consistencies greater than 0.70 for five of the six scales. The resulting instrument provides a more precise tool for assessing students' perceptions of authenticity, facilitating a more accurate evaluation of authentic learning environments in science education and supporting the development of interventions to enhance authenticity in instructional design.
Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis, Disciplinary authenticity, instrument development, perceived authenticity, questionnaire validation, Science Communication
Received: 19 Nov 2025; Accepted: 14 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Senel, Schüttler, Ertl and Watzka. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Deniz Can Senel
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