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    Vol. 10(5), pp. 582-594, 10 March, 2015 DOI:10.5897/ERR2015.2097 Article Number: F14328D51103 ISSN 1990-3839 Copyright © 2015 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR

Educational Research and Reviews

Full Length Research Paper

The investigation of science process skills of science teachers in terms of some variables Bülent AYDOĞDU Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Science Education, Afyonkarahisar/Turkey Received 16 January, 2015; Accepted 18 February, 2015

This study aimed to investigate basic process skills, integrated process skills and overall science process skills of science teachers in terms of some variables. This study had a survey design. The study population consisted of 170 science teachers from a province located in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The study data were obtained from science process skills test arranged by Aydoğdu (2006). The results of the study showed that especially integrated process skills of science teachers were not at a satisfactory level. Other results revealed that basic process skills of science teachers differed on their in-service training on these skills and seniority whereas integrated process skills of science teachers on the frequency of use of these skills in the classroom. Finally, results indicated that overall science process skills of science teachers differed on the frequency of use of these skills in the classroom and on in-service training on these skills. This study suggests conducting some further studies to bring science process skills of science teachers to a satisfactory level. Key words: Science process skills, science teachers, seniority, gender. INTRODUCTION Students need to reach many different types of information. Science process skills help students get this information (Burke, 1996). In order to achieve this result, students should learn the scientific research process (Gay, Mills & Airasian, 2009:5). The scientific research process can be taught using science process skills (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989; Feyzioğlu, Demirdağ, Akyıldız & Altun, 2012). The scientific research process can be described as identifying a problem, gathering data, analyzing the data, and interpreting the gathered results (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006:7). Therefore, scientific research develops students’ higher level thinking skills, such as asking questions,

doing research, solving problems and communicating affectively (Cuevas, Lee, Hart, & Deaktor, 2005). Science process skills are among the most frequently used thinking skills (Gagne, 1965: 145; Aydoğdu, Tatar, YıldızFeyzioğlu & Buldur, 2012). Science process skills are used by scientists during their work (Mutlu and Temiz, 2013). Acquisition of these skills is one of the most important aims of science teaching (Bybee and Deboer, 1993). Therefore, not only scientists but everyone should acquire these skills (Harlen, 1999; Huppert et al., 2002). Rillero (1998) emphasizes that individuals who cannot use science process skills will have difficulty succeeding in daily life in a general sense, as the development at

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Aydoğdu

science process skills enables students to gain the skills necessary to solve everyday problems (Kazeni, 2005). These skills are not only used during education and training period but they are also used in daily life (Rillero, 1998). Harlen (1999) emphasizes that science process skills are highly important for science literacy. Similarly, Ewers (2001) reports that when science process skills are not acquired, it will be an obstacle before science literacy due to the fact that science literacy is not limited with reading and hearing, instead it requires efficient use of science process skills. As for the mentioned importance of these skills, Ferreira (2004) emphasizes the importance of science process skills in science teaching. For that reason, science teaching should be planned in a way to include teaching science process skills (Saat 2004; Yakar, 2014). Myers, Washburn and Dyer (2004) report that science process skills comprise the basis of science and thus have an important place to acquire these skills in science education. Science process skills Science process skills are the basis for scientific thinking and research (Mutlu and Temiz, 2013). Besides, science process skills are the thinking skills that we used to get information (Karamustafaoğlu, 2011). As for the definition of science process skills, these skills are defined as tools that acquire information about the world and order this information (Osborne and Freyberg, 1985; Ostlund, 1992). Tobin and Capie (1982) define science process skills as identifying a problem, formulating a hypothesis about the problem, making valid predictions, identifying and defining of variables, designing an experiment to test the hypotheses, gathering and analyzing data and presenting rational findings that support the data. These skills are handled in the related literature in two categories: basic and integrated process skills (Yeany et al., 1984; Burns et al., 1985; Carey et al., 1989; Rubin and Norman, 1992; Germann, 1994; Wellington, 1994:27-28; National Research Council, 1996; Saat, 2004; Chabalengula et al., 2012). Basic process skills form the basis of integrated science process skills (Padilla, 1990; Rubin and Norman, 1992; Rambuda and Fraser, 2004). While some of the basic process skills are observing, classifying, communicating, measuring, using space/ time relationships, using figures, inferring and predicting, some of the integrated process skills are identifying the problem, identifying and controlling variables, formulating hypotheses, interpreting data, defining operationally, reading/constructing graphs and experimenting (Yeany et al., 1984; Germann et al., 1996; Padilla, 1990). Generally, as students are in the concrete operational stage during preschool and primary school (1st through 4th grades). Basic process skills can be acquired from the preschool period onward while integrated process skills can begin to be acquired in secondary (5th through 8th

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grades) school (Tobin and Capie, 1982; Ergin et al., 2005: 7). On the other hand, the formal operational stage starts in secondary school. In a study conducted by Padilla et al. (1983) it was found that there was a positive and high correlation (r=0,73) between students’ integrated science process skills and formal operational skills. In this context, when students go to secondary school they are expected to acquire integrated science process skills. The acquisition of science process skills becomes deeper in higher stages (Çepni and Çil, 2009: 52). The integrated process skills are the important skills for solving problems or doing science experiments (Mutlu and Temiz, 2013). Integrated science process skills require a more advanced knowledge base (Özgelen, 2012). The role of teachers in the acquisition of science process skills Harlen (1999) reports that the acquisition of science process skills at desired level is very important for students, and those students, who could not sufficiently acquire these skills, cannot comprehend the world and cannot establish necessary connections. For that reason, especially teachers should develop their students’ science process skills, content knowledge and questioning skills which are major factors for an efficient science teaching in primary and secondary schools (K-12 grades) (Miles, 2010). This is because of the fact that having science process skills or content knowledge is highly important for the resolution of a problem. For that reason, it can be assumed that science process skills and content knowledge complete each other (Rillero, 1998). It is known that teachers should have the required knowledge, understanding and materials to teach science process skills (Miles, 2010). However, some studies found that science process skills of teachers are generally not sufficient (Harty and Enochs, 1985; Pekmez, 2001, Aydoğdu, 2006; Karslı et al., 2009) and they rarely evaluate these skills by teaching (Oloruntegbe and Omoifo, 2000). Studies revealed that teachers having developed science process skills are more active to teach these skills in their classrooms (Downing and Gifford, 1996) and, thus, they are very effective on the skill development of students (Aydoğdu, 2006). To conclude, it is known that teachers should have sufficient science process skills and teach these skills to students efficiently (Harlen, 1999; Miles, 2010). The aim and importance of the study Regarding the results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ([TIMSS], 2011), some of Asian countries (Korea, Singapore, Japan, Hong-Kong, China) are successful. As a rapidly developing region,

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Asia-Pacific countries have similar cultural and societal concepts, traditions, and experiences (Lai et al., 2008). As we know, most of the borders of Turkey are located in Asia. But, Turkey has a low success in TIMSS exams. Regarding the results of the TIMSS-1999, Turkey was 33rd among 38 countries in the general ranking, while regarding TIMSS-2007 results, in the general ranking it was 31st among 50 countries, and regarding TIMSS2011 results for 4th grade, Turkey ranked 36th among 50 countries, and for 8th grades it was ranked 21st among 42 countries. An analysis of the TIMSS-1999 questions showed that some of the questions were intended to evaluate students’ knowledge about scientific research and the nature of science. Turkey was 33rd in this field. The headings under scientific research and the nature of science are the scientific method (formulating a hypothesis, making an observation, inference, generalization), designing experiments (experimental control, materials and processes), scientific measurings (validity, repetition, experimental mistakes, consistency, scale), using scientific equipment, carrying out routine experimental processes, data collection, organization, representation (units, tables, images and graphics), and describing data and interpretation (Bağcı-Kılıç, 2003). An analysis of the content of the TIMSS-2007 questions showed that there were questions evaluating reasoning skills. Questions evaluating reasoning skills consist of problem solving, conducting analysis and synthesis, formulating a hypothesis, making predictions, designing experiments, and the planning, deducing and generalizing, and evaluating stages of an experiment (National Center for Education Statistics-NCES, 2007; Bayraktar, 2010; NCES, 2011). TIMSS-2011 questions’ content was adapted from the content of TIMSS-2007. These results indicated that in Turkey, primary school students’ knowledge of science process skills was low (NCES, 1999; 2007; 2011). In some studies about primary school students’ knowledge of science process skills in Turkey it was observed that the students’ average scores were low (Temiz, 2001; Tan and Temiz, 2003; Aydoğdu, 2006; Çakar, 2008; Hazır and Türkmen, 2008). Studies conducted in Turkey show that students at high school had poor science process skills (Dönmez and Azizoğlu, 2010; Şen and Nakipoğlu, 2012). The same was also true at the university level (Akar, 2007; Bağcı-Kılıç et al., 2009; İnan, 2010; Karslı and Ayas, 2010; Özbek et al., 2012). Teachers have great responsibilities to develop science process skills of students. To this end, science process skill levels should be known and effective variables on these levels should be determined. By analyzing studies conducted in Turkey, it can be seen that there are very few studies on science process skill levels of science teachers. For that reason, this study aims to investigate science process skills of science teachers in terms of some variables. Problem: How do basic process skills, integrated process skills, and overall science process skills of

science teachers differ in terms of some variables? Sub-Problems 1. Is there any significant difference between basic process skill and integrated process skill scores of science teachers? 2. Do basic process skills of science teachers significantly differ on their levels of interest towards learning these skills, levels of competency towards learning these skills, the frequency of use of these skills in classroom, in-service training on science process skills, gender, seniority, workplace? 3. Do integrated process skills of science teachers significantly differ on their levels of interest towards learning these skills, levels of competency towards learning these skills, the frequency of use of these skills in classroom, in-service training on science process skills, gender, seniority, workplace? 4. Do overall science process skills of science teachers significantly differ on their levels of interest towards learning these skills, levels of competency towards learning these skills, the frequency of use of these skills in classroom, in-service training on science process skills, gender, seniority, workplace? METHOD Participants The study population consisted of 170 science teachers from a village (N=25), a town (N=40), a district (N=27) and the city center (N=78) of a province located in central region of Turkey. Distribution of the participants regarding their gender, seniority and workplace is presented in Table 1. The design of the study This quantitative study was carried out as a survey, which possesses three basic characteristics: (1) the collection of data (2) from a sample (3) by asking questions, in order to describe its aspects (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006). Instrumentation “Science Process Skills Test for Teachers-SPSTFT” arranged by Aydoğdu (2006) was used as the data collection instrument. "Science Process Skills Test for Teachers-SPSTFT" consisted of two chapters which comprised 7 scenarios and the 9-item multiple choice tests with 0.70 reliability. In these chapters, answers were explained with reasons. 9- item multiple choice test was developed by Enger and Yager (1998) and adapted into Turkish by Aydoğdu (2006). The scenarios were developed by Aydoğdu (2006) as a means of investigating other studies (Anonymous, 2006; Dana, 2001; Enger and Yager, 1998; Ergin et al, 2005). Skill areas measured with Science Process Skills Test for Teachers and maximum scores taken from these skills are presented in Table 2. As can be seen in Table 2, SPSTFT consists of 9 justifiable multiple choice tests each of which was scored 2 points, and 7 scenarios each of which was scored 4 points. Maximum total score of this test was 46. As can be seen in Table 3, skills measured with SPSTFT were analyzed individually as basic and integrated

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Table 1. Distribution of participants regarding their gender, seniority and workplace

Variables Gender N Male 80 Female 90 Total 170

% 47 53 100

Seniority 0-5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years 16-20 years 21 and more years Total

N 21 25 46 47 31 170

% 12 15 27 28 18 100

Workplace Village Town District City center Total

N 25 40 27 78 170

% 15 23 16 46 100

Table 2. Skill areas measured with SPSTFT and maximum scores to be taken from these skills.

Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total

Justified multiple choice tests of SPSTFT Observing Classifying Inferring Identifying and controlling variables Interpreting data Measuring Formulating hypotheses Experimenting Experimenting

Maximum scores to be taken from science process skills 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 18

Scenarios of SPSTFT Observing Experimenting Formulating hypotheses and Identifying variables Formulating hypotheses and Identifying variables Classifying Measuring Experimenting

process skills. As it can be seen in Table 3, basic process skills of SPSTFT are “observing”, “classifying”, “measuring” and “inferring”; integrated process skills of SPSTFT are “formulating hypotheses”, “identifying and controlling variables”, “experimenting" and “interpreting data”.

Data analyses SPSS 16.0 packet program has been used for the analysis of data gained after the applications Analysis of the data obtained from science process skills of teachers test was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, tests were evaluated by two researchers individually. The reason for such an analysis was to obtain quantity data via open-ended scenario questions in the test. In order to ensure reliability, tests were analyzed individually by two researchers during SPST evaluation. First of all, researchers analyzed 20 participants' tests individually. Regarding these analyses, coefficient of concordance between researchers was measured as 83. Afterwards, researchers gathered, compared and discussed the analyses. Finally, all data were analyzed by two researchers independently, and percentage

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 28

of concordance between researchers was measured to be 91. This percentage is regarded as reliable (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In the second stage, the normality of the distribution of SPSTFT scores in each group was tested through normality tests. As the normality assumption was not violated, parametric tests were decided to be used in the data analysis. In the analysis of the first sub-problems of the research, related samples t test was used while factorial ANOVAs were conducted to analyze other subproblems of the study. To do factorial ANOVA, the homogeneity of variance assumption was checked through Levene’s test and satisfied. Besides, Scheffe tests were used to make multiple comparisons.

RESULTS Scores that science teachers obtained from basic and integrated process skills of SPSTFT are presented in Table 4. As it can be seen in Table 4, teachers' success percentages of basic process skills and integrated process skills

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Table 3. Distribution of questions in SPSFT regarding basic and integrated process skills and maximum scores.

SPSTFT Bas ic Pro ces s Skill s Inte grat ed Pro ces s Skill s

Observing Classifying Measuring Inferring Total Formulating hypotheses Identifying and controlling variables Experimenting Interpreting data Total Overall total

Question number 1 1 1 1 3 1 8 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 9 16

Justified multiple choice test Scenario Justified multiple choice test Scenario Justified multiple choice test Justified multiple choice test

The score for each question 2 4 2 4 2 2

Justified multiple choice test Scenario Justified multiple choice test Scenario Justified multiple choice test Scenario Justified multiple choice test

2 1 2 3 2 4 2

Question type

Maximum score depending on the question number 2 4 2 4 6 2 20 2 2 2 6 4 8 2 26 46

Table 4. Scores That science teachers obtained from basic and integrated process skills of SPSTFT.

SPSTFT Basic Process Skills Observing Classifying Measuring Inferring Total Integrated Process Skills Formulating hypotheses Identifying and controlling variables Experimenting Interpreting data Total Overall Total

Maximum score

M

Success percentage

Std. Deviation

6 6 6 2 20

3.30 3.54 3.46 1.31 11.62

55 % 59 % 58 % 65 % 58 %

1.77 1.27 1.28 .89 2.99

4 8 12 2 26 46

1.40 3.68 5.32 0.98 11.40 23.03

35 % 46 % 44 % 49 % 44 % 50 %

.70 2.18 2.75 .64 3.96 5.83

were 58 and 44 % respectively. This result indicates that teachers’ basic process skills were better than their integrated process skills. T-test was performed on dependant variables in order to detect whether the difference between basic and integrated process skills were significant or not and the results are presented in Table 5. As it can be seen in Table 5, it was found that there was a significant difference between basic and integrated process skill scores of teachers (t: 11.177, p