Abstract
The goal of this study was to analyze the science and technology questions with respect to science process skills (SPS) included in the Transition from Primary to Secondary Education (TEOG) examination developed for use with 8th-grade students in Turkey. The 12 TEOG exams administered in the course of three academic years from 2014 through 2016 that included 238 science and technology questions were subjected to document analysis to determine whether the process is being made toward incorporating science process skills in this high-stakes exam. The number of science and technology questions that incorporated SPS increased from 49 in 2013-2014 to 53 in 2014-2015 and 76 in the most recent year, 2015-2016. These questions included interpretation and inference skills far more often (n = 59) than data processing/modeling/hypothesis skills (n = 2). The document analysis showed that basic science process skills were included in science and technology questions more or less as often as integrated science process skills.
Highlights
For almost 60 years (Hurd, 1958), it has been assumed that one of the fundamental objectives of science courses has been the development of scientifically literate individuals
Science curricula introduced in Turkey in 2005 and 2013 emphasized the need for scientifically literate individuals who possessed science process skills (SPS), and the Turkish science curriculum draft published in 2017 included SPS in two of its general objectives (TMoNE, 2017)
Qualitative research techniques based on document analysis (Patton, 2014) were used to investigate the written materials associated with the science and technology portion of recent TEOG exams
Summary
For almost 60 years (Hurd, 1958), it has been assumed that one of the fundamental objectives of science courses has been the development of scientifically literate individuals (deBoer, 2000; Hurd, 1998; Sullivan, 2008). Science curricula introduced in Turkey in 2005 and 2013 emphasized the need for scientifically literate individuals who possessed science process skills (SPS), and the Turkish science curriculum draft published in 2017 included SPS in two of its general objectives (TMoNE, 2017). According to Gillies and Nichols (2014), science process skills support critical and scientific thinking skills of students. They help students develop a perspective on the nature of science that is more “scientific” (Williams et al, 2004). They are essential for establishing a context where the students can discover learning (Abruscato, 2000). While using the SPS associated with classification or inferring, for example, the student may use an observation SPS (Ostlund, 1992)
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