Examination of Secondary School Students' Attitudes towards Socioscientific Issues

Abstract

The interplay between culture and technology is dynamic. Since ancient times, science has had a major impact on people, and people have determined the general direction of science progress. In this way, there is mutual influence between society and science. Socioscientific issues have emerged as a result of the interaction process between science and society. In this context, it was aimed to examine eighth grade students' attitudes towards socioscientific issues. The study was conducted with 136 eighth grade students studying in a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey in the 2018-2019 academic year. Quantitative data collection and analysis methods were used in this study, which aimed to examine the secondary school students’ attitudes towards socioscientific issues. “The Attitudes towards Socioscientific Issues Scale (ATSIS) " was used as data collection tool in the study. According to the findings of the factorial ANOVA test; it was determined that eighth grade students' showed positive attitude on socioscientific issues. While students had positive attitudes related to interest and usefulness of SSI, they also had neither positive nor negative attitudes related to interest and usefulness of SSI. In addition, it was observed that the general attitude levels about socioscientific issues and the mean scores of interest and usefulness, liking and anxiety sub-dimensions did not differentiate according to gender. Based on the findings, the importance of socioscientific issues was emphasized and recommendations were made to program makers, researchers and practitioners on teaching.