Examining the effect on science and technology attitudes on the achievement of secondary school students, using virtual environment experiments

ABSTRACT Examining the Effect on Science and Technology Attitudes on the Achievement of Secondary School Students, Using Virtual Environment Experiments Şeyma Nur ARI DEMİRAY Master Thesis FIRAT UNIVERSITY Institute of Educational Science Department of Mathematics and Science Education Division of Science Teaching 2024, P: XVI+ 137 This research aims to investigate the effects of experiments conducted with secondary school students in different environments on students' academic success in science, their attitudes toward science lessons and technology. The research was conducted with 26 5th grade secondary school students in the 2022-2023 Academic Year, using an exploratory sequential design, one of the mixed method research approach types. The virtual environment experiments were conducted with 13 students in the experimental group of the study, and the real environment experiments were conducted with 13 students in the control group. The quantitative data of the research were collected with the Light Emission unit achievement test, Attitudes Toward Science Scale and Students' Attitudes Toward Technology Scale. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the experimental and the control groups to obtain the qualitative data of the research. The analysis of the quantitative data was carried out using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test for Related Samples and the Mann Whitney U-Test with the SPSS 25 software package. In the analysis of the qualitative data, the data was obtained using descriptive analysis and content analysis techniques. According to the results of the quantitative data analysis of the research, there was a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group students in the Light Emission unit achievement test (z = 3.063, p < 0.05) in favor of the posttest. There was a significant difference between the Light Emission unit achievement test pretest and posttest scores of the control group students (z = -3.071, p < 0.05) in favor of the posttest. It was determined that there was no significant difference between the Light Emission unit achievement test posttest scores of the the experimental group and the control group students (U = 81.00, p > 0.05). There was a significant difference between the experimental group students' attitude toward science pretest and posttest scores (z = -3.189, p < 0.05) in favor of the posttest. There was a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the control group students' attitudes toward science (z = -2.447, p < 0.05) in favor of the posttest. There was a significant difference between the posttest scores of the experimental group and the control group students' attitudes toward science (U = 0.00, p < 0.05) in favor of the control group. There was a significant difference between the experimental group students' pretest and posttest scores regarding technology (z = -3.059, p < 0.05) in favor of the posttest. It was determined that there was no difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the control group students regarding technology (z = -0.892, p > 0.05). It was observed that there was a significant difference between the attitude posttest scores of the experimental group and the control group students toward technology (U = 18.00, p < 0.05), in favor of the experimental group students. According to the results of the quantitative findings of the research, it was determined that experiments carried out in different environments increased the success of the experimental group and the control group students, but experiments conducted in different environments had an equal effect on increasing student success. Experiments carried out in different environments positively affected students' attitudes toward science, but it was determined that the students in the control group, where real environment experiments were conducted, had more positive attitudes toward science. It was concluded that the experimental group students developed positive attitudes toward technology, while the control group students did not change their attitudes toward technology during the study. According to the results of the qualitative data obtained through the interviews, it was determined that the students' interest, desire and curiosity toward science increased, they had fun in lessons, they acquired new information and the majority of the students wanted to do experiments in a real environment. It can be said that doing experiments in science facilitates learning regardless of the virtual or real environment, but doing experiments in a virtual environment does not provide the opportunity to learn by doing and experiencing that the real environment provides. Keywords: Academic Achievement, Real Environment Experiment, Science, Secondary School Students, Technology, Virtual Environment Experiment