Abstract
Science centres which have a considerable importance and functions in developed countries are intended to be popularized in Turkey. At this point considering the fact that the first contact between science centres and visitors is usually provided with websites, it is quite important that the content of these websites should be designed and developed to meet the needs of the visitors. From this point of view, the aim of this study is to examine the websites of the science centres in Turkey and to reveal at what level they meet the needs of the visitors. The research study was carried out via descriptive survey method and between September 14 and September 18, 2015 the key word “science centre” was searched on Google. Out of the science centres found, twelve science centres were included in the study. During the process of analysis of the documents obtained, two researchers examined every single data on the website separately and then they combined and tabulated them. Within this context, four main titles were obtained: a) information and news b) activities and the documents, c) Visuals, and d) Contact, Appointment, and Booking. At the end of the study, it was determined that under some circumstances the websites of the science centres were useful, where as they were inadequate under some conditions.
Highlights
Science centres contain science, technology, and education in itself and they are one of the rare institutions which make contributions to science education and professional training by building a bridge between science-education and technology-education (Bozdoğan, 2007)
At this point considering the fact that the first contact between science centres and visitors is usually provided with websites, it is quite important that the content of these websites should be designed and developed to meet the needs of the visitors
From this point of view, the aim of this study is to examine the websites of the science centres in Turkey and to reveal at what level they meet the needs of the visitors
Summary
Technology, and education in itself and they are one of the rare institutions which make contributions to science education and professional training by building a bridge between science-education and technology-education (Bozdoğan, 2007). Science centres which have considerable functions and importance about teaching of science in developed countries are intended to be popularized in our country Within this scope, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) took a decision to set up science centres in big cities at the first stage and in 81 cities to popularize science culture in line with the decision of the Supreme Council for Science and Technology (BTYK) and carried it into action. From this point of view, the aim of this study is to reveal at what level the websites of existing science centres in Turkey meet the needs of the visitors after analysing the websites and to offer a perspective about the content of the websites belonging to the science centres which will be founded in the future
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