Investigating the Interrelationships among Science and Mathematics Achievement, Attitudes towards STEM, and Gender

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the interrelationships among high school students’ science and mathematics achievement, attitudes towards STEM and gender. The participants of the study were 446 public high school students (240 females, 206 males) from two cities in Turkey. They were 10th, 11th, and 12th grade level students selected from two different kinds of schools which are Anatolian Religious High School and Anatolian High School. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to determine the relationships among the variables of the study. It was found that mathematics achievement and science achievement are significantly and positively associated with students’ mathematics attitudes, and science attitudes, but negatively related to students’ attitudes towards engineering and technology. On the other hand, 21st-century skills were not found to be significantly associated with both mathematics achievement and science achievement. The results also indicated that female students had higher mathematics and science achievement scores than male students. However, male students had more interest in engineering departments. The results of the study also imply the importance of the indirect effect of attitudes towards STEM on the relationship between students’ achievement and gender.

Keywords

• Gender
• Mathematics attitude
• Science attitude
• STEM attitude
• Structural Equation Modeling

Fen ve Matematik Başarısı, STEM’e Yönelik Tutum ve Cinsiyet Arasındaki İlişkilerin İncelenmesi

Abstract

DOI: Bu çalışma, lise öğrencilerinin fen ve matematik başarıları, STEM’e yönelik tutumları ve cinsiyetleri arasındaki ilişkileri incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Türkiye’nin iki farklı şehrindeki devlet okullarından toplam 446 lise öğrencisi (240 kız, 206 erkek), bu çalışmanın katılımcılarını oluşturmaktadır. Katılımcılar, Anadolu İmam Hatip Lisesi ve Anadolu Lisesi’inde okuyan 10., 11. ve 12. sınıf öğrencilerinden seçilmiştir. Çalışmada ele alınan değişkenler arasındaki ilişkiler Yapısal Eşitlik Modellemesi (SEM) kullanılarak incelenmiştir. Matematik ve fen başarısının öğrencilerin matematik ve fen tutumları ile anlamlı ve pozitif ilişkili olduğu ancak öğrencilerin mühendislik ve teknolojiye yönelik tutumları ile negatif ilişkili olduğu bulunmuştur. Öte yandan, 21. yüzyıl becerileri hem matematik başarısı hem de fen bilimleri başarısı ile anlamlı düzeyde ilişkili bulunmamıştır. Sonuçlar ayrıca kız öğrencilerin erkek öğrencilere göre daha yüksek matematik ve fen başarı puanlarına sahip oldukları diğer taraftan erkek öğrencilerin ise kız öğrencilere göre mühendislik bölümlerine daha fazla ilgisi olduğunu göstermiştir. Çalışmanın sonuçları ayrıca öğrencilerin STEM’e yönelik tutumlarının başarı ve cinsiyet ilişkisi üzerindeki dolaylı etkisinin önemini işaret etmektedir. 

Keywords

• Cinsiyet
• Fene yönelik tutum
• Matematiğe yönelik tutum
• STEM’e yönelik tutum

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