Investigating Middle School Students’ Conceptions of Technology: The Effects of Gender and Grade Level

Year 2024, Volume: 44 Issue: 1, 311 - 359, 30.04.2024

Samet Kaynak , Mustafa B. Aktan

https://doi.org/10.17152/gefad.1374068

Abstract

This study aims to investigate middle school students' conceptions of technology through mental models. Furthermore, it also seeks to determine whether middle school students' conceptions of technology differ according to gender and grade level. The study sample included 1038 middle school students. The research employed a writing-drawing activity and the What is Technology? scale to gather data. When the results were examined, it was determined that only 15.90% of middle school students had good mental models regarding the concept of technology, while 42.48% had medium and 41.62% had poor mental models. Generally, students view technology as a tool that makes people's lives easier and associate technology mostly with electrical and electronic devices such as computers, digital tablets, mobile phones, and televisions. The research revealed that while middle school students exhibited an average grasp of mechanical technologies, they struggled to conceptualize basic technologies. We found that middle school students' understanding of technology did not vary by gender, but did differ statistically significantly by grade level. The findings also showed that higher grade levels were associated with a more sophisticated understanding of technology among middle school students. In conclusion, we observed that the mental models clearly express the dimensions of technology as an artifact, a human practice, and its current role in society. It seems that middle school students' conceptions of technology are limited to these three dimensions, and students have difficulty grasping the nature of technology in all its dimensions.

Keywords

Conception of technology, Mental models, Middle school, Students

Ortaokul Öğrencilerinin Teknoloji Anlayışlarının İncelenmesi: Cinsiyet ve Sınıf Düzeyinin Etkileri

Abstract

Bu çalışma, ortaokul öğrencilerinin teknoloji kavramlarını zihinsel modeller aracılığıyla belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Ayrıca, ortaokul öğrencilerinin teknoloji anlayışlarının cinsiyet ve sınıf düzeyine göre farklılık gösterip göstermediği de belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Araştırmaya toplam 1038 ortaokul öğrencisi katılmıştır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak yazma-çizme etkinliği ve Teknoloji Nedir? ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Sonuçlar incelendiğinde ortaokul öğrencilerinin teknoloji kavramına ilişkin geliştirdikleri zihinsel model düzeylerinin yalnızca %15,90'ının iyi, %42,48'inin orta ve %41,62'sinin düşük düzeyde olduğunu belirledik. Öğrenciler teknolojiyi genellikle insanların yaşamını kolaylaştıran araçlar olarak görmekte ve teknolojiyi daha çok elektrik ve elektronik cihazlarla (bilgisayar, dijital tablet, cep telefonu, televizyon vb.) ilişkilendirmektedir. Ayrıca, öğrencilerin basit teknolojileri kavramsallaştırmakta zorlandıkları, ancak mekanik teknolojiler için ortalama düzeyde performans gösterdikleri belirlenmiştir. Ortaokul öğrencilerinin teknoloji anlayışlarının cinsiyete göre değişmediği, ancak sınıf düzeyine göre farklılaştığı tespit edilmiştir. Bulgular ayrıca, yüksek sınıf seviyelerinin ortaokul öğrencileri arasında daha sofistike teknoloji anlayışlarıyla ilişkili olduğunu göstermiştir. Sonuç olarak, teknolojinin bir eser veya ürün; bir insan uygulaması, pratiği ve teknolojinin toplumdaki güncel rolü boyutlarının zihinsel modellerde açıkça ifade edildiğini gözlemledik. Görünen o ki ortaokul öğrencilerinin teknoloji kavramları bu üç boyutla sınırlı kalmaktadır ve öğrenciler teknolojinin doğasını tüm boyutlarıyla kavramakta zorlanmaktadır.

Keywords

Teknoloji anlayışı, zihinsel modeller, ortaokul, öğrenciler

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