THE VIEWS AND BELIEFS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ABOUT CELESTIAL BODIES AND LIFE IN SPACE

This study was carried out in order to examine the views of secondary school students on the topics of objects and life in space in terms of gender and class level variables. A total of 120 students (60 male and 60 female) in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades participated in the study. In this study, the survey method was adopted and a questionnaire that was developed by the researchers and that consists of 8 open-ended questions was used. Data were analyzed by descriptive analysis and content analysis. As a result of the data analysis, it was seen that when the topic of objects in space was evaluated in terms of class level and gender, the answer with the highest frequency at all levels was the 'planet' and the 'stars' respectively. It was also found that as the class levels increase, students make more detailed explanations about the presence of life in space and male students believe in the presence of life in space more than girls do. In addition, the students were asked to make explanations and drawings pertaining to living things in space. Moreover, questions were directed to the students about whether they had ever seen UFO, about the meaning of UFOs, and about life forms of aliens. In the light of these results, it was suggested that the current topic should be given more space and be supported with different educational materials in the school environment