Measuring the perceptions of middle school 8th grade students towards new generation science questions

Over the years, many changes have been made to the exam system due to the evolving education system. The latest update to the transition from secondary education to high school was on November 5, 2017, when the TEOG (Transition from Basic Education to Secondary Education) exam was replaced by the LGS (High School Transition System). The new exam system and question format, which have been changed with LGS, aim to provide students with collaborative work skills as well as logical, systematic, critical, and creative thinking abilities suitable for the 21st century. The new generation question system, based on 21st-century skills, which has changed with the exam system, has affected teachers, parents, and students in different ways and has created psychological effects, especially in students, such as exam anxiety and attitudes towards the exam. Therefore, feedback from education stakeholders on the new generation of questions encountered in national and international exams will contribute to identifying their positive effects as well as their shortcomings. This will help evaluate the current situation and identify issues in the process, which is important for developing recommendations to improve the system's functionality. The aim of this research is to examine the perceptions of 8th-grade middle school students towards new generation science questions. To achieve this goal, a descriptive statistical design, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The study group was determined using simple random sampling method. The study group consisted of 8th-grade students, totaling 5 schools, 3 of which were public and 2 were private, randomly selected from Konyaalti district of Antalya province. An attitude scale survey was used as a data collection tool. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the SPSS package programme. According to the analysis, there was no significant difference in the attitudes of 8th grade students towards new generation science questions based on gender. However, school type, parents' marital status, and education level had a significant impact. These results indicate that students' demographic status affects their perceptions of new generation questions. Keywords: Perception, Science Education, LGS (High School Transition System), New Generation Questions