Examination of Secondary School Students ’ Scientific Inquiry Skills Perceptions in term of Curiosity , Motivation and Attitude

Mustafa KAHYAOĞLU*1 Mehtap SARAÇOĞLU2 1Siirt Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Bilgisayar ve Öğretim Teknolojileri Eğitimi Bölümü, mustafa.kahyaoglu56@gmail.com, 2Siirt Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Temel Eğitim Bölümü, mehtapsarac@siirt.edu.tr * Corresponding Author: mustafa.kahyaoglu56@gmail.com Article Info Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the extent to curiosity, motivation and attitude towards science in secondary school students predict theirs of scientific inquiry skills perceptions. For this purpose, the research was designed in the relational scanning model. The sample of study consisted of 169 secondary school students in the 2017-2018 academic year from Siirt Center. In the study, some scales are used collections tools as follows: scientific inquiry skills perceptions towards science course scale, science curiosity scale, motivation towards science learning scale and attitude towards science course. The correlation and linear multiple regression analysis are used in the analysis of the data. The research showed that curiosity, motivation and attitude variables of secondary school students’ significant predictor of scientific inquiry skills perceptions. The results obtained are discussed with regard to the literature on science education. Received: 19 October, 2018 Accepted: 20 November, 2018 Online: 3 December, 2018


Introduction
Recently, scientific inquiry skills have become one of the most important research subjects of science education.Science education is mainly aimed at the development of scientific thinking skills as a scientist.For this reason, the Ministry of National Education recommends the use of inquiry-based learning approaches from an interdisciplinary perspective in science education.However, in order to apply inquiry-based learning approaches in science education, it is necessary to reveal the students' scientific inquiry skills and the factors that explain them.When the literature is examined, there are many academic studies on inquiry-based learning skills (Evren, 2012;Işık, 2011;Kaya & Yılmaz, 2016;Sarı & Güven, 2013;Yetişir, 2016;Wu & Ktajcik, 2006).However, there are not enough studies on the role of curiosity, motivation and attitude on inquiry learning skills perceptions.The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the perception of scientific inquiry skills of the secondary school students towards the science course with the curiosity, motivation and attitude variables.For this purpose, the following questions are answered; 1-Is there a significant relationship between the perceptions of scientific inquiry skills of secondary school students and their curiosity, motivation and attitudes towards science?
2-Is the curiosity, motivation and attitudes towards science courses of the secondary school students a significant predictor of scientific inquiry skills?

Method
This study was designed correlational survey model.The population of the study consists of the students studying in the secondary school in the city of Siirt in the 2017-2018 academic year.The sample is composed of 169 secondary school students who are selected according to easily accessible appropriate sampling method.The ‚scientific inquiry skills perceptions towards science scale‛ developed by Balım & Taşkoyan (2007), The ‚science curiosity scale‛ developed Harty & Bell (1984) and translated and adapted into Turkish by Serin (2010) and the ‚motivation towards science learning scale‛ developed by Dede & Yaman (2008) and the ‚attitude scale towards science and technology course‛ by developed Nuhoğlu (2008) were used as date collection tools in the study.In order to solve the sub problems, arithmetic mean and standard deviation values of the items in each scale were calculated.In addition, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to calculate the relationships between the variables of the study.In addition, multiple regression analysis was used to determine whether the students' curiosity, motivation, and attitudes significantly predict their perception of scientific inquiry skills.All analyzes were analyzed using statistical software SPSS 22, p< ,01 or p< ,05 was considered statistically significant.

Result, Discussion and Conclusion
The results obtained in the research can be summarized as follows 1-Secondary school students participating in the research are more than medium level of science curiosity, motivation towards science learning and attitudes towards science technology course.
2-Secondary school students' perceptions of scientific inquiry skills are below the medium level.
3-There is a positive relationship between the perceptions of scientific inquiry skills of secondary school students and science curiosity.
4-There is a positive relationship between the perceptions of scientific inquiry skills of secondary school students and motivation towards science learning.
5-There is a positive relationship between the perceptions of scientific inquiry skills of secondary school students and attitude towards science and technology course 6-Secondary school students participating in the research, science curiosity, motivation towards science learning and attitude towards science and technology course are important predictors of scientific inquiry skills.

7-
The most important predictor motivation towards science learning in the perception of scientific inquiry skills in secondary school students.
However, the results obtained were limited to middle school students who participated in the study and were interpreted accordingly.According to the results, it can be suggested to the researchers who will work on this subject.
 The relationships between the scientific inquiry skills of secondary school students and curiosity (such as perceptual curiosity, curiosity) and motivation types (such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) can be examined in more detail.
 Secondary school students' perceptions of scientific inquiry skills can be examined in relation to other variables such as self-efficacy and self-regulation, learning strategies, as well as affective variables such as curiosity, motivation and attitude.
 Researches can be done on out-of-class science applications that will improve students' scientific inquiry skills.