Examination of 2021 Turkish Central Exam Science Questions in Terms of Science Process Skills

Abstract

In the Central Exam of the High School Entrance System (known as LGS), which has been put into practice in Türkiye since 2018, it is aimed to measure the students' ability to transform the information they have learned into skills rather than simply remembering or memorizing them. In this context, the aim of the study is to analyze each of the 2021 central exam science questions prepared by the Ministry of National Education and to evaluate the questions in terms of scientific process skills in the 2018 science curriculum. Document analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used as a method in the research. In this context, the questions of the science subtest of the 2021 central exam were examined by four academicians and six science teachers, who are experts in the field, who have studies on scientific process skills. Within the framework of expert opinions, the compatibility of the questions was evaluated according to the categorical compatibility criterion. According to the findings of the research, it was concluded that the 2021 central exam questions mostly focused on the scientific process skills of “inferring”, “interpreting data” and “defining variables”. According to this result, it was concluded that the central exam science test was not sufficient in terms of covering scientific process skills. In this context, it is thought that studies should be carried out to include more scientific process skills in the central exam questions, which is the transition application from primary education to secondary education, in line with the vision of our country's science curriculum.