Investigation of science high school students' views on visual arts lesson (Mardin sample)

The main purpose of 8 th grade students, who have generally managed to be more successful students of the schools they attended, to be placed in science high schools with the high scores they received from High school entrance exam, is to be placed in professions with high scores in the field of science and mathematics. Getting into a good science high school is both the goal of a good student and one of the primary goals that students' families expect from them. It can be thought that these successful children, who aim to get into high-rated professions, will reach high places, playing a role in the future of the country. The most important goal of these schools, where science and technology education comes to the fore, is to encourage their students to produce and use new technologies and to become high-level scientists. For this reason, it would be reasonable to think that science high schools are educational institutions that shed light on the future in a world built with science. However, we should not forget the fact that a science nourished with art will create a world that is both bright and colorful. Living in such a more modern and aesthetic world is more likely to create a happier and more peaceful mood in people. Suut Kemal Yetkin (1968) further concretized this situation by comparing art and science to two wings of a bird. According to Suut Kemal; While science strengthens one aspect of the human being, art strengthens the other aspect and completes the human being as a whole. In the light of this information, it was aimed to conduct research by considering the opinions and suggestions of science high school students regarding the visual arts course and the teaching of this course. For this purpose, is there a significant difference between students' opinions about the visual arts course in terms of gender variable? Is there a significant difference between students' opinions about the visual arts course in terms of the grade level variable? Is there a significant difference between students' opinions about the visual arts course in terms of the school they study at? Answers to questions such as these were sought. In the literature review, although there were studies asking the opinions of science high school students, no scientific research was found in which the opinions of science high school students were asked about the visual arts course. This gap in the literature was seen as a deficiency by the researcher and it was decided to conduct this research. It can be said that the research is important in terms of filling this gap in the literature and allowing visual arts courses taught in science high schools to be handled and examined in line with student opinions. In this research, a descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. A total of 435 students, including 108 female students and 130 male students studying at Mardin Science High School and 85 female and 112 male students from Kızıltepe Mehmet Hadi Kahraman Science High School, were included in the research in the 2022-2023 academic year. The data was collected by applying a face-to-face survey to students, and the collected data was analyzed using SPSS 0.22 quantitative data analysis program and presented in the findings section. According to the results of the research; In both schools, students generally expressed positive opinions about the visual arts course, there was no significant difference according to the class variable, there was a significant difference in favor of female students according to the gender variable, and there was a significant difference in favor of Kızıltepe Mehmet Hadi Kahraman Science High School students according to the school variable has been detected. Suggestions were presented in line with the findings obtained at the end of the research.