The effect of feedback for homework on secondry school students' science self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement

The study aimed to determine the effect of homework feedback on middle school students' science self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement. A pretest-posttest control group experimental design was used in the study. The study was conducted with a total of 37 students, 19 of whom were in the experimental group and 18 of whom were in the control group, studying in two different 6th grades in a middle school located in the Eastern Anatolia region. In the study, the Academic Achievement Test developed by the researcher and the Science Self-Efficacy Belief Scale developed by Yaman (2016) were used as data collection tools. The measurement tools were applied to the experimental and control groups as pre-test and post-test. The homework prepared by the researcher within the scope of the 6th grade 'Systems in Our Body and Health' unit was given to the experimental and control group students. The homework assignments given to the experimental group students were shared with the students by giving positive feedback in writing by the researcher. The control group was not intervened in the education. In order to determine the effectiveness of the studies, the data were analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Mann Whitney-U test. The data obtained from the research were evaluated in SPSS 10.00 package program. According to the findings obtained as a result of the research; there was no significant difference in both groups in terms of Academic Achievement Test posttest scores. There was no significant difference between the Science Self-Efficacy Belief scale post-test scores. As a result, it was determined that homework feedback had no effect on middle school students' science self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement. Based on these findings, it is recommended that Science teachers provide immediate, formative, and positive feedback during instructional activities and actively engage students in the learning process.