The relationship between secondary school 6th grade students'constructivist learning environment perceptions, motivation forlearning science, logical thinking skills and science abilities

The aim of this study is to examine the proposed relationships between the secondary school 6th grade students' constructivist learning environment perceptions, motivations for science learning, logical thinking skills and science abilities. For this reason, a theoretical model explaining the relationship between the specified variables has been proposed and this model has been examined using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. Another aim of the research is to determine whether the proposed model differs according to gender groups. The research is a correlational study in which the relationship between two or more variables is examined without interfering with the variables. The study group of the study consists of 932 middle school 6th grade students studying in the central districts of Malatya province Battalgazi and Yeşilyurt in the academic year 2018-2019. In the research, "Personal Information Form", "Scale on Assessing Constructivist Learning Environments (SACLE)", "Students' Motivation Toward Science Learning (SMTSL)", "Logical Thinking Group Test (LTGT)" and "Science Ability Test (SAT)" were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the data, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling were used. As a result of the analyzes, it was observed that the 6th grade students' constructivist learning environment perception scores and their motivation scores for learning science were at high levels. In terms of gender variable, it was observed that the constructivist learning environment perceptions, motivation towards science learning, logical thinking skills and science ability scores of secondary school 6th grade students differed significantly in favor of girls. According to the education level of the parents, while the students' constructivist learning environment perceptions and their motivation to learn science did not change, it was observed that their logical thinking skills and science abilities differed. 4 out of 5 hypotheses created for the proposed model were accepted and one was rejected. According to the final model, secondary school 6th grade students' motivation for learning science and logical thinking skills are predicted directly, while constructivist learning environment perceptions indirectly are predicted as the abilities of science. Constructivist learning environment perception, motivation for learning science and logical thinking skills all together explain 88% of the variance in science ability. The theoretical model proposed in the study was tested separately for study groups composed of male and female students. As a result of the research, the effect of the constructivist learning environment perception stated in the final model on predicting the science ability of the students and the effect of the logical thinking skill's motivation on learning science were not statistically significant in the study groups composed of both female and male students. All other predictive effects are statistically significant. As a result of the research, 90% of the variance in the science ability of male students studying in the 6th grade in secondary school, 86% of the variance in the science ability of female students, the constructivist learning environment perception in the research, motivation for learning science and logical thinking skill were explained by the variables.