Secondary School Students’ Perspectives about a TUBITAK 4004 Project: Bound the Sciences, Beautify the Nature!

Abstract

This study aims to examine the views of the students who participated in the TUBİTAK 4004 project named “Bound the Sciences, Beautify the Nature!” about the activities and the overall project. For this purpose, the opinions of 40 middle school 5th-grade students from different parts of the city where the project took place were taken about the whole project and each activity they attended. Exit tickets in which students wrote their thoughts about the activity at the end of each workshop and their diaries were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed using content analysis, one of the qualitative analysis methods. Descriptive coding and structural coding were used in the first loop analysis process, and focus coding was used in the second loop coding process. While participants described most of the activities in the project as “funny,” they found the activities in which the instructor mainly used the lecture method or the activities performed at the end of the day as “boring.” When the participants’ favorite points are examined, it is seen that they like the activities for creating products and the activities that create a game-drama or competition environment more. In addition, it was determined that the participants realized the importance of protecting the environment, had basic knowledge about various disciplines and started to use some basic scientific process skills and life skills. The data obtained from the study is essential for guiding the organization of nature and science schools/camps that will be held from now on.