Grade Level and Gender Differences in the Writing Self-Beliefs of Middle School Students

The present study examined latent test anxiety profiles in a sample of 592 U.S. adolescents in grades 6-12 using latent profile analysis (LPA). The adolescents were administered a multidimensional measure of test anxiety in their schools. The results of LPA indicated that a three-profile test anxiety model provided the best fitting model. The three latent test anxiety subgroups were named low, medium, and high test anxiety. In addition, grade-level and gender were added as covariates to the model and LPA was performed again. Grade-level and gender were found to differentially predict membership in the latent test anxiety subgroups, with females more likely to be in the high latent test anxiety subgroup than in the medium and low latent test anxiety subgroups and middle school students were more likely to be in the high latent test anxiety subgroup than in the low latent test anxiety subgroup. Middle school students were also more likely to be in the medium latent test anxiety subgroup than in the low latent test anxiety subgroup. Implications for the development of measures, treatment, and prevention of test anxiety in the U.S. adolescent population are discussed.

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Turkish middle school students’ perceptions of engineering and technology: the effect of gender and grade levelTürk ortaokul öğrencilerinin mühendislik ve teknoloji algıları: sınıf düzeyi ve cinsiyetin etkisi

Journal of Human Sciences ◽

10.14687/jhs.v15i4.5260 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Ayşegül Ergün

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Middle School Students ◽

Grade Level ◽

English Summary ◽

School Students ◽

Heavy Equipment ◽

Engineering And Technology ◽

Outdoor Environments ◽

And Gender ◽

Research Students

The aim of this research was to determine the engineering and technology perceptions of middle school students. Descriptive survey model was used during the research. The study group consisted of 100 middle school students (52 male, 48 female) receiving education in a district state middle school in Aegean Region of Turkey. Two questionnaires titled “What is engineering” and “What is technology” were used as data collection tools. Descriptive statistical methods and content analysis were used during data analysis. Research results showed that, the majority of middle school students perceived engineers as construction workers that perform heavy works at outdoor environments or as mechanics that repair vehicles. While defining engineers, students mostly referred that engineers use of materials such as electrical devices, heavy equipment, cables and plans. As a result, it was found out that students are lack of the concept of engineering and they have a misunderstanding in engineering.In the research students were found to have an inadequate perception of technology as well. Most of the students perceived technology as electrically driven devices, and few related hand-made products to the concept of technology. It has been determined that the students' perception of engineering and technology in terms of grade level and gender did not display any differences. The obtained results are expected to contribute to the related literature, educators and researchers particularly for Turkish educational system in which STEM education has gained importance.Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file.ÖzetBu araştırmanın amacı ortaokul öğrencilerinin mühendislik ve teknoloji algılarının belirlenmesidir. Araştırmada betimsel tarama modeli kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu, Türkiye’nin Ege bölgesinde yer alan bir ilçedeki devlet okulunda öğrenim görmekte olan 100 ortaokul öğrencisi (52 erkek, 48 kız) oluşturmuştur. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak “Mühendislik Nedir?” ve “Teknoloji Nedir?” isimli iki anket kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde betimsel istatistik yöntemleri ve içerik analizinden yararlanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda ortaokul öğrencilerinin çoğunluğunun mühendisleri açık alanlarda çalışan ve ağır işler yapan inşaat işçileri ya da araçları tamir eden tamirci olarak algıladıkları sonucu elde edilmiştir. Öğrenciler mühendisleri tanımlarken elektrik malzemeleri, iş makineleri, kablo ve plan kullandıklarını ifade etmiştir. Sonuç olarak öğrencilerin mühendislik algılarının yetersiz olduğu ve mühendislikle ilgili yanlış kavramalarının olduğuna ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmada öğrencilerin teknoloji algıları da oldukça yetersiz bulunmuştur. Öğrencilerin büyük bir kısmı, elektrikle çalışan aletleri teknoloji olarak algılamakta, çok azı insan eliyle yapılan aletlerin teknoloji olduğunu düşünmektedir. Öğrencilerin mühendislik ve teknoloji algılarının sınıf düzeyi ve cinsiyete göre anlamlı bir farklılık göstermediği belirlenmiştir. FeTeMM eğitiminin önem kazandığı Türkiye’de araştırmadan elde edilen sonuçların ilgili alan yazına, eğitimcilere ve araştırmacılara katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir.

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