Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
11th International Artemis Scientific Research Congress, Bucuresti, Romanya, 27 - 28 Şubat 2025, ss.395-407, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
Students’ perceptions of biotechnology products are crucial in terms of fostering informed consumers and citizens, developing education and curricula, and facilitating societal acceptance and innovation. These perceptions are influenced by accurate information regarding biotechnology products' health, environmental, and ethical dimensions. Moreover, students’ positive or negative attitudes toward these products determine the rate of adoption of biotechnological innovations and societal resistance to them. The concept of "biotechnology" is addressed in conjunction with socioscientific issues in the 8th-grade Science Curriculum. This study examines students’ knowledge and attitudes toward socioscientific concepts, particularly when they encounter dilemmas within the topic of biotechnology. In this context, the study investigates the relationship between middle school students’ attitudes toward socioscientific issues and their preferences for biotechnology products. This research was conducted using a descriptive survey model. Data were collected from 87 eighth-grade students from two different middle schools in a province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The participating students were selected using a simple random sampling method. Two scales were used as data collection instruments. The first instrument was the Biotechnology Literacy Inventory developed by Fırat et al. (2021), from which the Biotechnology Products Preference Scale, consisting of 13 items, was utilized. The second scale used was the Pupils’ Attitudes towards Socioscientific Issues Scale, developed by Alkış Küçükaydın et al. (2021). Descriptive statistics were employed, and correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between the two scales. Additionally, a t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used to examine whether students’ preferences for biotechnology products showed significant differences based on their attitudes toward socioscientific issues. The findings indicated that there was no significant relationship between students’ attitudes toward socioscientific issues and their parents’ educational backgrounds. However, a significant difference was found between students’ preferences for biotechnology products and their attitudes toward socioscientific issues. These findings suggest that students’ attitudes toward biotechnology directly relate to their perspectives on scientific and ethical issues. The results of the study suggest that students’ attitudes and choices regarding biotechnology products may be influenced by their approaches to scientific and ethical values. Future research should be conducted with larger samples, including different age groups, and should explore examples beyond those presented in textbooks.
Keywords: Biotechnology Products, Socioscientific Attitudes, Middle School, Student Preferences, Science Education