Investigation of the experiences of students and counselor teachers who received final degrees in the TÜBİTAK High School Students Research Projects competition

One of the main goals of the education system is to ensure that students acquire the skills to access information and use this information effectively. In the vision of the Ministry of National Education (MEB) curriculum, it is aimed to raise responsible individuals who can do research, question, learn to learn, are sensitive to their environment and the world, have problem-solving ability and are responsible. In the project-based learning approach, students are expected to carry out the processes of collecting data, analyzing it, drawing conclusions and synthesizing their findings with previous results. Additionally, students have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss and generate new questions from their findings, and work on solving complex problems. This process allows students to develop 21st century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, informatics and media literacy. This research examined the experiences of the students and advisor teachers who ranked in the Turkey final of the TÜBİTAK 2204-A High School Students Research Projects Competition in 2023, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The sample group of the research consists of 224 students and 108 consultant teachers from 108 teams that won the Turkey final in 2023. Semi-structured interview forms prepared by the researcher and the 'Multidimensional 21st Century Skills Scale' developed by Çevik and Şentürk (2019) were used as data collection tools. Teacher and student experiences were examined using the case study method, one of the qualitative research designs. Experiences were collected with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher. Students' 21st century skill levels and different variables affecting these skills (gender, whether or not they received education in centers such as BİLSEM, parents' education level) were investigated quantitatively using the 'Multidimensional 21st Century Skills Scale'. Finally, using the decision tree algorithm, it was tried to determine the qualities that are effective in students' getting degrees. In the quantitative research, data analysis was carried out with the independent groups t-test, but due to the small sample size in the number of groups, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests were also used. In qualitative research, content analysis and descriptive analysis methods were used. As a result of the research, 41 of the 70 consultant teachers who participated in the research had postgraduate education, 60 of them had consultancy in TÜBİTAK, 16 of them had consultancy in TEKNOFEST competitions, and 10 teachers had articles and papers in refereed journals. Advisor teachers are generally experienced individuals who are familiar with scientific research and methods. Half of the students' parents have undergraduate or graduate education. 20 students received education in centers such as BİLSEM. When the 21st century skills of 96 students were measured, they were found to be at high levels in skills such as information and technology literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, entrepreneurship, social responsibility and leadership. No significant difference was observed between the students' gender, whether they received education at BİLSEM or not, and their parents' education levels and 21st century skills. 88.4% of the teachers stated that they provide consultancy with internal motivation. The most important source of external motivation is the demand of the school institution. Students emphasize the experience of the advisor and the student, team effort, hard work and not giving up as the keys to success. Teachers, on the other hand, consider planned and disciplined work, correct student selection, team spirit, teacher experience, school support and scientific research skills as critical factors for success. During the competition process, students gained skills such as presentation, communication, oratory, literature scanning, report writing, and stress management, and their self-confidence increased. According to teachers and students, the aspects that need to be improved include the fairness of jury evaluations, the preparation of competition calendars taking into account school exams, providing financial support, increasing the awards and expanding the additional score areas. The impact of advisor and student experiences on success was analyzed with the decision trees algorithm. 'Experience' has been determined as the most important factor for both teachers and students. These findings emphasize that advisor teachers and students are generally experienced and the importance of experience on success. The research results were compared with other studies in the literature and suggestions were made.