An Analysis of the Views of Parents with Preschool Children in Relation to Science and Preschool Science Activities

Abstract

Although much is known about children and teachers' attitudes towards science and science activities, considerably less is known about what parents believe about them. Parents' attitudes towards science and science activities are as important as teachers' role in influencing children’s achievement in science. In this study, parents’ views towards science and preschool science activities were investigated as to different variables. In this regard, descriptive research method was used in the study, which was conducted with 442 mothers (383) and fathers (59) with children aged between 3 and 6 years and attending preschool. ‘The Parents' Views about Science and Preschool Science Activities Scale (PaVSPeSAS)’ developed by Sahin, Uludağ, Gedikli, and Karakaya (2018) demographic information form developed by the researcher was used as the data collection tools in the study. Since the data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic process, they were obtained by sharing with parents the scale link prepared on the online platform. The results showed that parents’ gender, age, educational background, the amount of time spent with children for kitchen activities have impacts on parents’ different views regarding science content.