Examining the social skill levels of 2nd and 3rd grade primary school students and their attitudes towards life science course: The case of Kars and Bursa

Social skills which are among the objectives of primary school life science curriculum and which are tried to be gained in basic education process; it plays an important role in establishing good relations with the people around them, obeying social rules, taking responsibility, exercising their rights correctly, and helping people in need. Gaining the social skills necessary for students' social lives is very important for the order and development of social life. Therefore, it is important to investigate the social skill levels of primary school students and their attitudes towards Life Science course. In this study; social skill levels of primary and secondary school students and their attitudes towards Life Science course will be examined. In addition, it will be tried to examine whether social skill levels of 2nd and 3rd grade students and their attitudes towards Life Science course change according to gender and grade level of the students, the socio-economic conditions of the family and the location of their school. In the progress of data collection and data analysis descriptive statistics were used. Collected data were analyzed with the usage of SPSS 20.0 software. During the data analysis, Mann Whitney U test used for comparison of two groups, for groups more than two Kruskal Wallis H used for the comparison, in case Kruskal Wallis H test results showed meaningful results, Mann Whitney U test used as post-hoc test, correlation and regression analysis used in order to understand from which group the difference comes from. As a result of the research, it was determined that there is a significant relationship between the attitudes of primary school 2nd and 3rd grade students towards life studies lesson and their social skill levels (p <0.05). Accordingly, it can be said that as the attitude levels of students towards life studies lesson increase, their social skill levels also increase.