Investigation of the effects of extracurricular TUBITAK exercises based on project-based teaching conducted with middle school students on scientific process skills and motivation levels

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of extracurricular TUBITAK exercises based on project-based teaching on the scientific process skills and motivation levels of secondary school 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. The research was carried out in a public school in the Serik district of Antalya in the 2022-2023 academic year. The study group of the research consists of 56 secondary school students studying in 6th, 7th and 8th grades. In the study, in which the convenient sampling method was adopted, the students were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups by equalizing them according to the graduation scores of the previous year. The 32 students in the experimental group produced 13 projects during the extracurricular TÜBİTAK exercises, and with half of these projects, 2204B secondary school students participated in research projects competitions, and applied to the 4006 science fairs support program by using all of the projects. In the study, in which the quantitative method was applied, the pre-test post-test paired design, one of the semi-experimental designs, was used. The research lasted a total of 16 weeks. In order to collect the data of the research, the Scientific Process Skills Scale and the Motivation and Learning Strategies Scale used. The data of the research were analyzed with the SPSS 25 package program. As a result of the research, a statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test results in the scientific process skills and motivation levels of the project-based extracurricular TUBITAK exercises carried out with secondary school students. When the pre-test and post-test results of all factors belonging to Learning Strategies and motivation dimensions were compared, while the average scores of the experimental group students increased, there was no significant change in the control group students. The difference in the grade levels of the students did not cause any difference in their motivation levels.