Development of science attitudes scale for middle school students with special needs in inclusive classrooms

In this study, it was aimed to develop a valid and reliable Science Attitude Scale for middle students with special needs who receive inclusive education and to examine students' attitudes in terms of variables of gender, grade level, number of siblings, status and the duration of support education. The 35-item scale created for this purpose was applied to 310 middle school students who were educated in inclusive classrooms in the provinces of Artvin, Trabzon, and Gümüşhane during the 2021-2022 academic year. A 5-point Likert type scale was used due to the ease of application and preparation within the scope of the cross-sectional survey model. During the preparation of the scale, a literature review was conducted, experts reviewed it, and the attitude scale was prepared as a result of the necessary corrections and the data obtained were analyzed. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were performed in order to reveal the construct validity of the obtained attitude scale. In order to determine the reliability of the scale, Cronbach Alpha (α), McDonald Omega (ω) and Guttmann λ6 analyses were performed. It was determined that the one-dimensional and 10-item scale explained 32% of the total variance; the factor loadings of the items varied between .50 and .68 and the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was .789; the McDonald Omega coefficient was .794 and the Guttmann coefficient was .803. According to the results of the analysis; when the fit coefficients of the scale were examined, it was seen that the model fitted well with the dataset and the reliability coefficients were acceptable values. In order to examine this scale in terms of some variables, the one-dimensional Attitude Scale for Inclusion Students, consisting of 10 items, was applied to 95 middle school students with special needs who were within the scope of inclusion, and the effect of independent variables was examined by t-test and ANOVA. When the attitudes of the students towards the science course were examined in terms of gender, there was no statistically significant difference between female and male students, and when it was considered in terms of receiving academic support, there was a statistically significant difference in favor of the students receiving support education. Considering the students' attitudes towards the science course in terms of the time, the support education that they received, it was determined there was a statistically significant difference for the four groups formed according to the years they received the support education. It was concluded that students who received support education for 1 year, 2 years or 3 years or more had higher attitudes towards science lessons than students who did not receive any support. When the attitudes of the students towards the science lesson were examined in terms of their grade levels, it was determined that there was a statistically significant difference for the four groups formed according to the grade levels. When we looked at which groups the statistically significant difference originated from, it was concluded that the 5th and 6th grade students had higher attitudes towards science than the 8th grade students. When the attitudes of the students towards the science course were examined in terms of the number of siblings, it was determined that there was no statistically significant difference for the three groups formed according to the number of siblings. It was concluded that the number of siblings of the students with special needs who were educated in inclusive classrooms did not affect the attitudes of the students towards the science course. When the results are considered, it can be said that the scale has a valid and reliable structure, and that the students' grade level and the status of receiving support education affect students' attitudes. It has been suggested that this study can be done with different sample groups and different variables that may affect the attitudes of students with special needs can be examined; it is thought that the study will contribute to the literature and can be used to determine the science attitudes of students with special needs.