SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY CONCEPTS FROM DEVELOPMENTAL VIEW

In secondary school, where students begin to be more interested in physics, chemistry and biology, it is an important issue how their interests are in terms of all three subject areas according to grade levels. The aim of this study was to examine and evaluate the interest of secondary school students in the concepts of physics, chemistry and biology taught in science classes by grade level. The participants included 251 students enrolled in 16 different classrooms in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades in a boarding secondary school located in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The study was carried out as a developmental study in single screening model. For compliance with the research pattern, study data were collected with a questionnaire consisting of four open-ended questions, and the questionnaire was given to the students in order to find out their thoughts on the matter under consideration. In addition, the students were asked to draw a picture depicting the place and importance of science in their life and to explain their drawings briefly in writing. The data obtained from the open-ended questionnaire and drawings were analyzed through content analysis. The collected data were classified in categories and themes, and matrices were generated accordingly. In addition, frequency and percentage analysis was performed. As a result, science was found to be mostly associated with concepts regarding biology discipline by the students. Also, overall interest level was found to be higher with physics and biology topics at all grade levels studied here.