Standardization and Validation of a Social Intelligence Scale for Secondary School Students Enhanced through a Digital Cartoon-Based Learning Package in History

Social intelligence plays a crucial role in students' interpersonal relationships, emotional adjustment, and collaborative learning experiences in the school environment.To assess these socio-emotional competencies meaningfully, a standardized and context-appropriate Social Intelligence Scale is essential, particularly in learning settings that integrate innovative pedagogical approaches.The present study focuses on the development, standardization, and validation of a Social Intelligence Scale for secondary school students in connection with a Digital Cartoon-Based Learning Package in History.The scale was designed to measure five key components of social intelligence -social awareness, social adaptability, social empathy, tolerance, and cooperativeness.An initial pool of 150 items were prepared and subjected to expert review to ensure clarity, relevance, and content validity.Item analysis was conducted to identify suitable items and 40 items were retained for the final version of the scale based on p-values.Factor analysis has done to examine the underlying factor structure based on a theoretically proposed five-factor model.The reliability of the scale was established using Cronbach's Alpha, yielding a coefficient of 0.87, indicating high internal consistency.Criterion-related validity was confirmed through a correlation of 0.89 with an existing standardized Social Intelligence Scale prepared by Chandha and Ganesan.The findings indicate that the developed Social Intelligence Scale is a valid, reliable, and contextually appropriate instrument for assessing social intelligence among secondary school students.