A scale development study on the systems thinking skills of middle school students in the context of the environment

Daha sonraIn this study, it was aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale in order to determine the systems thinking skills of middle school students (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades) in the context of the environment. Afterwards, it was aimed to investigate middle school students' systems thinking skills (for analysis, synthesis, application level scores and total scores) in terms of various variables in the context of the environment through the scale developed. The study is a quantitative study conducted in relational screening model. In the study, a total of 751 middle school students, 347 girls and 404 boys, from different grade levels, studying at a public school in the city center of Duzce in the 2021-2022 academic year, were studied. In addition, in this study, the scale was developed in line with the opinions of field experts, adhering to the conceptual framework for its validity and reliability, and two pilot studies were carried out. In the first pilot study, a total of 110 students, 67 girls and 43 boys, from different grade levels were studied, and in the second pilot study, 37 girls and 46 boys, a total of 83 5th grade students were studied. The scale consists of 13 multiple-choice questions. Type X multiple-choice questions, graphs of change over time and cyclic diagrams were used in the questions. Calculation of KR-20 formula, calculation of test-retest reliability, descriptive statistics, normality tests, independent sample t-test and ANOVA test were applied to the obtained data. According to the analysis of the data, the systems thinking skills of middle school students in the context of the environment were found to be at a good level in terms of analysis and synthesis level scores and total scores of these skills, and at a moderate level in terms of application level scores. It has been determined that there is no significant difference in the systems thinking skills of middle school students according to their gender. Considering the grade levels, it was determined that there were significant differences between the grade levels for the scores at the synthesis and application levels of the scale. In addition, it was concluded that the students who scored high on the questions at the synthesis and application level of the scale identified the meaning of "system" more accurately. doldurulacaktır.