Determination of the relationship between the science anxiety and science related intellectual risk-taking behaviours of middle school students

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the science anxiety and science related intellectual risk-taking behaviours of middle school students. The study was designed as descriptive research and employed a relational model. The sample of the study was selected with convenience sampling during the school year of 2015-2016 with middle school students in Izmir. The science related intellectual risk-taking behaviours scale was developed by Beghetto (2009) and then adapted into Turkey by Yaman ve Köksal in 2014. The scale has a total of 18 items and 5-point Likert-type. Includes intellectual risk-taking and 3 predictors (attention to fiction, creative self-efficacy, perception towards teacher support). In order to determine the anxiety levels of the middle school students, a 28-item, 5-point Likert type and science anxiety scale consisting of 2 sub-dimensions developed by Güzeller and Doğru (2011) was used. The SPSS 18.0 package program was used to analyze the data. In analysing data, Kruskal Wallis H-test, Mann Whitney U-test and Multiple regression analyze were performed with descriptive statistical methods (Frequency, Percent, Average, Standard Deviation). It has been detected that science related intellectual risk-taking behaviours are above, anxiety levels of the middle school students are below. Nevertheless, it was determined that students with high anxiety level had a low tendency to take intellectual risk in science class.