Abstract
This study investigated the effects on student scientific efficacy after participation in the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope {GA VR1) project. In the GA VRT program,
students use computers to record extremely faint radio waves collected by the telescope and analyze real data. Scientific efficacy is a type of self-knowledge a person uses to determine his or her ability to understand and work within the scientific community. An attitudinal survey was administered to all students nationwide who participated in the GAVRT program during the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 school years and had 480 and 562 respondents respectively. The students completed a pre-survey prior to beginning the
GAVRT program and then completed a follow-up survey immediately after working on the Jupiter Quest program. Between the pre- and post-surveys, students received instruction in the GAVRT curriculum and participated in operation of the radio telescope. During the 2000-2001 school year, increases in students' scientific efficacy occurred in their feelings of efficacy associated with the value they placed on the work they produced in science. During the 2001-2002 school year, the following areas of efficacy increased: students' perceived abilities to use scientific equipment, students' feelings about how
other people valued their work, and students' abilities to think scientifically.
