Adaptación al español y evidencia de validez basada en el contenido del Mathematics and Technology Attitudes Scale (MTAS)

Abstract

Introduction: The learning of mathematics is an educational challenge that finds in technology a valuable mediation mechanism in school education, but this requires an in-depth study of students' reactions to technology-mediated mathematics learning. However, there is not a large bank of tests in Spanish that jointly measure student attitudes towards technology and mathematics. This study aimed to adapt the Mathematics and Technology Attitudes Scale (MTAS) to Spanish, and to obtain evidence of content-based validity for use with high school students. Methodology: Through an instrumental study, English-Spanish translation and Spanish-English back-translation of the MTAS was carried out by two native translators in both languages, and linguistic adequacy was achieved by trying to free the items from gender bias thanks to a focus group with five experts and a pilot test with Colombian schoolchildren. The study included readability analysis with multiple indexes and evidence of content validity was obtained through evaluation by expert judges in educational mathematics. Results: The version adapted to Spanish is presented with cultural adequacy and updated content for the items, responding to evidence of a high level of content validity in accordance with the expert analysis, as well as with an acceptable degree of perspicuity for the target population. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the MTAS constitutes a useful tool for research on attitudes toward the use of technology to learn mathematics.