Examination of Students’ and Their Parents’ Experiences of Out-of-School Science Experimentation Within the Context of Parents’ Roles

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya

Study examines how parents’ roles shape students’ out-of-school science experimentation experiences, focusing on science process skills assessed during experiments and subsequent academic success in science lessons. The study centers on parents and their children jointly conducting science activities, using a group of 13 junior high students and participating parents. Data were collected through questionnaires, observations, and video records. Parents most often acted as assistants, while learner and mentor roles appeared equally; a minority role set included co-participant and observer behaviors.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Scientific literacy and science process skills

Extramural activities and parental influence

EXAMINATION OF STUDENTS’ AND THEIR PARENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL SCIENCE EXPERIMENTATION WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF PARENTS’ ROLES Hüseyin EŞ, Esra BOZKURT ALTAN, Irfan GÜMÜŞ Abstract: The aim of the study was to examine parents’ and their children’s experiences of science experimentation in terms of parents’ roles, science process skills assessed during the experiment and academic successes regarding science lessons. Realization of science activities by students and their parents is at the centre of this study. That is why its study group was constituted from 13 junior high school students and their parents who became participants on voluntary basis. Various data collecting tools such as questionnaire forms, observation forms and video records were used in order to obtain data diversity in this study. Parents participating in this study were mainly assumed three roles as assistant, learner and mentor during the science experimentation process. The most frequent role exhibited by participating parents was assistant role with frequency of five. Learner and mentor roles exhibited by parents had equal frequency of three. Co-participant and observer roles were exhibited only by 1 parent each. The mentor parents in the study knew or estimated how to conduct the experiment but they did not tell or explain how to do the experiment directly to the students. Instead, mentor parents guided the students positively to find out how to conduct the experiment. The co-participant parent studied just like a student during the experimentation process. It has been found out that parents’ respective roles might be related to their educational backgrounds. It has also been confirmed that observer, learner and assistant parents were primary, secondary or high school graduates; there was only one assistant parent who had an associate degree. Key words: parents’ role, science experiments, science process skills 1. Introduction The importance of putting knowledge into practice is the most sensitive point of science education studies. That is why issues like individuals associating science with daily life, earning scientific literacy and improving their science process skills are among the most fundamental aims of education programs. In studies testing scientific literacy (PISA), the level of scientific literacy in Turkey is below average among OECD members and ranks extremely low (Ministry of Education [ME], 2016) . In PISA 2015, scientific literacy is defined as “the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen” and three competencies are emphasized for scientific literacy (ME, 2016) . The first of these is the competency to explain phenomena scientifically, which requires efficiencies such as recalling and applying scientific knowledge, making appropriate predictions and offering hypotheses. The second is defined as to evaluate and planned scientific research, which involves identifying a question in a given scientific study, distinguishing questions that are possible to investigate scientifically and proposing ways to explore a given scientific question. The third and final competency is to interpret evidence and data scientifically, which requires analyzing data set and drawing appropriate conclusions, besides identifying evidence and arguments in science-related texts. A scientifically literate individual should have the capacity to seek and find answers to daily life-related questions and identify scientific foundations in these questions, access sources to create scientific knowledge and know about and use scientific method (NRC, 1996) . This requires underlining the capacity to develop an approach related to scientific method, rather than recalling knowledge, regarding science classes at schools. In science education programs in Turkey, developing scientific literacy is regarded as the vision of these programs. The development of scientific process skills and 21st cent

FAQs

What was the aim of the study?

The study aimed to examine parents’ and their children’s experiences of science experimentation, specifically in terms of parents’ roles, science process skills during the experiment, and academic successes related to science lessons.

How was the study conducted and what data were collected?

The research used a study group of 13 junior high students and their parents. Data were collected using questionnaire forms, observation forms, and video records to capture diversity in the participants’ experiences.

What parenting roles were most frequently observed during science experimentation?

The most frequent role was assistant, with a frequency of five. Learner and mentor roles were observed equally, each with a frequency of three.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya