High school students’ engagement in science learning: scale adaptation and relationship with epistemological beliefs

Çelik M., DOĞRU M., Alkış Küçükaydın M.

International Journal of Science Education, 2025 (SSCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/09500693.2025.2549384
  • Dergi Adı: International Journal of Science Education
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Psycinfo
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Adaptation, epistemological beliefs, science learning, student engagement
  • Akdeniz Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Research worldwide is looking for ways to reform science education and increase student engagement in science education. Determining students’ engagement in science education can provide insight into the effectiveness of teaching and learning activities. For this reason, the Student Engagement in Science Learning scale, which was previously developed in a different sample, was adapted into Turkish. In this context, a two-way study was conducted. First, the validity and reliability study of the scale was conducted. 625 high school students participated in the study (M = 16.01, SD = 1.21). The results showed that the scale had good fit values for its four-dimensional and 20-item structure. Then, with the help of the adapted scale, the relationship between engagement in science learning and demographic variables and epistemological beliefs was tested. In this context, it was found that participation in science learning differed in some dimensions of the scale in favour of male students. In addition, the level of participation in science learning varied according to grade level. A weak relationship was found between students’ engagement in science learning and epistemological beliefs. The study provides pioneering results in students’ engagement in science learning and includes predictions about the variables that must be considered.