Behiye Akçay

This study aimed to develop and validate a reliable instrument for assessing middle school students’ water literacy and to evaluate their water literacy levels across Türkiye. Given the increasing pressure on global and national freshwater resources, understanding middle school students’ water literacy is essential for developing evidence-based educational policies that promote sustainable water use. This study employed an Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods design. First, a Water Literacy Scale was developed and validated following established instrument-development procedures. The validated scale was subsequently administered to 4252 middle school students from seven regions of Türkiye. Findings revealed that female students scored significantly higher than males in Water Awareness, Behavior Toward Water Issues, and Attitude Toward Water. Grade-level analyses indicated that younger students demonstrated stronger behavioral engagement, whereas older students showed higher cognitive understanding, revealing a gap between knowledge and action. Significant regional differences were observed across all dimensions of water literacy. Overall, the findings suggest that gender, grade level, and regional context influence water literacy and highlight the importance of context-sensitive and sustainability-oriented educational interventions.

Climate change is a complex problem. Addressing this problem effectively is possible by developing awareness and responsibility based on scientific knowledge in individuals from an early age. Especially for middle school students, understanding climate change is critical for their future attitudes and behaviors toward the environment. Unfortunately, there are limited Turkish tools measuring the knowledge level of students together with attitude. Departing from this need this study adapted Climate Change Knowledge Test and Attitudes Scale into Turkish. The original scale was developed by Dijkstra and Goedhart (2012). Utilizing a mixed-method research design, the study involved a sample of 634 students from 12 randomly selected schools situated across three different cities. The Attitude Scale largely maintained its six-factor structure with 26 items and demonstrated high internal consistency. The final version of the knowledge test included 11 items and met the recommended criteria. The findings provided strong evidence that the scale possesses both structural validity and psychometric reliability within the target population. This adapted instrument provides an effective resource for assessing students’ scientific and environmental attitudes and monitoring environmental education practices. Cite this article as: Karabacak, N. N., Akçay, B., Delen, İ., Dertli, Z. G., Akçay, H., Yıldız, B., Şenceylan, B., & İnce, G. (2026). Adaptation of climate change knowledge test and attitude scale to Turkish: validity and reliability study for middle school students. HAYEF: Journal of Education, 23, 0097, doi: 10.5152/hayef.2026.25097.

This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable Sustainable Ecology Scale for secondary school students. The exploratory sequential design, a type of design within mixed-methods research, was employed. The study sample consisted of 500 secondary school students from various grade levels. To construct the draft version of the scale, a 96-item question pool was generated based on predefined learning objectives. In the initial phase, the draft scale was reviewed by expert evaluators, resulting in a reduction to 69 items. Following a pilot study, necessary adjustments were made, and the final version was implemented in the main study. The collected data were analyzed using statistical software, and both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to ensure construct validity. The scale’s reliability was assessed through Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient, while item analyses, item-total correlation values, and factor correlations were examined. The results of CFA confirmed a three-factor structure, with fit indices indicating an acceptable to excellent model fit. As a result, a five-point Likert-type Sustainable Ecology Scale consisting of 32 items was developed, demonstrating a high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.934). The findings indicate that the developed scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool suitable for assessing sustainable ecology awareness among secondary school students.

In this study, middle school students were encouraged to develop STEM based socio-scientific activities, and as a result, their attitudes and opinions towards STEM were investigated. Mixed nested method was used in this research. Sample of the study consists of 16 seventh grade students, who got educated during the 2017-18 academic year in an eastern province of Turkey. The study lasted 24 weeks during an academic year. Data was collected by using STEM Attitude Scale, STEM Interview Form, Field Notes and Informal Meetings. The research findings indicated that engagement in STEM-based socio-scientific activities significantly enhanced participants' attitudes towards STEM disciplines. Moreover, this active involvement positively impacted their skills and aspirations, fostering a greater inclination toward selecting professions and careers geared towards creating innovations to enhance human life. Additionally, it was concluded that the activities positively affected their knowledge and motivation about STEM and socialization features such as communication, interaction and sharing.

This study aimed to conduct a systematic literature review of research to provide an overview of the key findings and trends in studies on problem-based learning within the context of science education in Türkiye. To achieve this goal, descriptive content analysis was used in this study. Articles and graduate theses conducted in Türkiye between 2000 and December 2023 were included in this study. The Turkish Academic Network and Information Center (TR Dizin) and National Thesis Center databases were used to access the articles and theses. The purposive sampling method known as the criterion sampling method was employed in this study, resulting in the inclusion of 133 studies, including 37 articles and 96 graduate theses. To facilitate data analysis, we developed a coding form. The results of this study showed that PBL had a positive impact on 34 different skills, and it had no impact on 11 different skills. Across all reviewed studies, the most preferred research design was the quasi-experimental design. There was limited inclusion of final-year students in the samples at various school levels, and researchers mainly preferred physics subjects for their studies.

The aim of the study is to adapt the “Maker-Based Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge” scale developed by Ku, Loh, Lin, and Williams (2021) for pre-service science teachers into Turkish. The study group of the research consists of 188 pre-service science teachers studying at the Department of Science Education at three state universities in Istanbul. This study was carried out using exploratory sequential design, one of the mixed method typologies. As a result of confirmatory factor analyses, it was seen that the scale, which was adapted into Turkish, consisted of 7 sub-dimensions and 27 items, as in the original. These 7 sub-dimensions consist of Content Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge, Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Technological Content Knowledge, Technological Pedagogical Knowledge and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. The Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient of the scale is .948.

The purpose of this study is to examine effects of Brain-Based Learning (BBL) method on seventh grade students' metacognitive awareness. Concurrent nested mixed method was used in the study. Thirty 7th grade students (21 girls, nine boys) participated in this study voluntarily. The unit of “Structure and Properties of Matter” was taught using the BBL method for six weeks. Students' Notebooks, Strategy Evaluation Matrix and Regulatory Checklist, were used for qualitative data. Metacognition Scale was applied as a pre-posttest for quantitative data. According to the results, while there was no significant difference between the Metacognition Scale pre-test and post-test results, a significant difference was observed in Conditional Knowledge, which is the Knowledge of Cognition sub-dimension of the scale. The findings obtained from the Strategy Assessment Matrix show that the students use high-level strategies (Affective Strategy) and techniques (Attention Concentration), so the Brain-Based Learning approach increases students' metacognitive awareness. When the expressions in the Regulatory Checklist were examined, it was seen that as the process progressed, the awareness of the students increased and the strategies they used worked.

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable scale to determine the STEM-Pedagogical Content Knowledge (STEM-PCK) levels of pre-service teachers. This study was conducted in the 2018-2019 academic year with 322 pre-service teachers in Turkey. In the study, one of the mixed method typologies, Exploratory Sequential Design was applied. The scale was submitted for evaluation by four experts to determine the content and face validity. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to determine the construct validity of the scale. As a result of EFA, the scale had five factors including STEM Pedagogical Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge, Engineering Pedagogical Knowledge, Mathematics Pedagogical Knowledge and Science Pedagogical Knowledge.As a result of CFAχ ² / df = 2.7085, RMSEA = .073, RMR = 0.0420, SRMR = .0667, NFI = .940, NNFI = .960, CFI = .961, IFI = .962, RFI = .938 values were reached and the factor structure determined to be suitable.To determine the reliability of the scale, internal consistency and test-retest reliability analyzes were made. Internal consistency reliability value of the scale was found as .977. The final form of the STEM-PCK scale is a 5-point Likert type that includes 57 items and 5 factors.

In this study, the effects of the STEM activities integrated with socio-scientific issues on students' 21st century skills were investigated. In this research, nested mixed design was used. The study group of this research consisted of 16 middle school students who studied in the seventh grade of a public school in an eastern province of Turkey. Socio-scientific STEM activities were applied to the study group for 24 weeks in the first and second semesters. Students followed the engineering design stages for STEM activities. In the research, 21st Century Skills Scale, Interview Form, Perception of 21st Century Skills Form, Field Notes, and Informal Interview Notes were used as data collection tools. SPSS was used to analyze the quantitative data of the research, and content and descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze the qualitative data. The study results showed that STEM activities integrated with socio-scientific issues had a positive effect on students' 21st century skills. Also, as a result of the examination of the opinions of the students, it was determined that the application developed the “creativity and innovation” skills of the students the most. Furthermore, students’ social and intercultural entrepreneurship, self-management, leadership and responsibility, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and cooperation, creativity and innovation skills were enhanced/developed at the end of the study.