Students’ Out-of-School Experiences, Job Priorities, and Perceptions toward Themselves as a Scientist: A Cross-cultural Study

Authors

Hunkar Korkmaz, Hacettepe UniversityFollow
Julie Anna Thomas, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Nilgun Tatar, Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat UniversityFollow
Serpil Altunay, Hacettepe UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Published in International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction 9:1 (2017), pp. 63-80.

Comments

Copyright © 2017 Hunkar Korkmaz, Julie Anna Thomas, Nilgun Tatar, and Serpil Altunay.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine middle school students’ out-of-school experiences related to science, priorities related to their future job, and perception toward themselves as a scientist. One intact school was assigned randomly from each country. The study involved 479 students (363 Turkish students; 116 American students), aged between 11 and 13. It used the survey instrument “Relevance of Science Education” developed by an international team. Results show that for this sample there continue to be significant gender and cultural differences in science experiences and perceptions toward scientists and of careers. It is thought that the findings of this research will contribute to the development of universal education on science, to the researchers studying on comparative education, cultural diversity and also to the international literature on science education.