RELATIONSHIP OF GIFTED STUDENTS’ EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS WITH ACHIEVEMENT AND MOTIVATION TOWARDS SCIENCE LEARNING

The purpose of this study is to investigate relationship of scientific epistemological beliefs of fifth, sixth, seventh and eigth grade gifted students in Science and Art Centers with their motivation towards science learning and science achievment. The study was designed as a correlational study and Scientific Epistemological Beliefs Scale, Science Achievement Test and Motivation towards Science Learning Scale were used to collect data. In selection of the sample, accessibility and nearness were considered and 84 students (35 girls and 49 boys) were selected. The data were analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis and the results showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between motivation towards science learning and scientific epistemological beliefs of the gifted students. However there was no statistically significant relationship between science achievement and scientific epistemological beliefs of the gifted students. Task oriented effort and task value aspects were positively correlated with “development” and “truth” aspects of scientific epistemological beliefs.