EXPERIENCES OF SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY

Date

2025-7

Author

DÖNMEZ, ÖZGE

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This study aimed to investigate the lived experiences of Science High School (SHS) students in developing scientific attitudes. It was intended to identify the barriers and enablers that influence students’ development of scientific attitudes, thereby offering actionable recommendations to improve educational practices. Adopting a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 59 students from a public Science High School in Antalya province from grades 9 through 12, selected through the maximum variation sampling strategy. The data were analyzed by interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings of the study provided a comprehensive understanding of how scientific attitudes were formed through students’ interactions within school, dormitory, and home environments. Instructional practices, participation in scientific and social projects in and out-of-school contexts, dormitory experiences, school culture, autonomous research studies, and home culture emerged as key contributors to the development of scientific dispositions such as curiosity, perseverance, critical thinking, skepticism, and open-mindedness. The study revealed both the enabling and constraining factors within institutional and cultural contexts in the process of carrying out the mission of science high schools, which was to cultivate scientists of the future. The results of the study have provided valuable insight into how scientific attitude development is shaped by both in-school and out-of-school experiences and suggest some implications for future practices and research. This research offers practical implications for curriculum design, teacher training, and science education policy. The findings underscore the need for inquiry-based, interdisciplinary, and student-centered approaches to foster meaningful scientific engagement in Turkish science high schools.

Subject Keywords

Scientific Attitudes, Science High Schools, In-School Experiences, Out-of-School Experiences, Scientific Project

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/115116

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis