Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Research in Science and Technological Education, 2024 (SSCI)
Background: Science curiosity, a critical cognitive-developmental determinant, significantly influences students’ learning outcomes due to mounting evidence supporting its pivotal role. This individual disposition is an effective catalyst driving students’ acquisition of knowledge, skill development, and expertise within scientific domains throughout their educational journey. Purpose: Our current research examines students’ science curiosity as a psychometric individual characteristic according to gender and some parental variables. Method and Sample: The present study employed a descriptive methodology within the quantitative research framework. Data were gathered from a sample comprising 2351 students enrolled in public secondary educational institutions. Result: Our findings revealed significant differences in students’ science curiosity according to categorical variables, such as gender, family income, parental education, and number of siblings. Girls had significantly more positive science curiosity than boys. Our findings also indicated that students from middle-income families who can easily meet their education, health, and social needs but have economic limitations for a more luxurious life have significantly higher scores than others regarding science curiosity. It was also found that students with two siblings and a parent who had graduated from university had the greatest advantage in science curiosity. Conclusion: This study’s findings suggest that innovative school policies can be met with home-like science learning environments for students deprived of family involvement—most likely due to low-educated parents—and have very low or very high economic levels. With an environment that combines the warmth of a home, caring science educators who eliminate the lack of parental involvement, rich science materials, and engaging activities, it can be expected that these students’ science curiosity will be stimulated.