The study aims to develop a scale to assess high school students’ attitudes toward sustainable development. For this purpose, 90 Likert-type scale items pertaining to attitudes were initially developed based on existing literature. Further consultations with experts led to a reduction of the item count to 60, followed by a further reduction to 40 items. The scale was administered to 509 students enrolled in an Anatolian high school, a science high school, and an Anatolian religious vocational high school in Akcaabat. The data gathered were analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 statistics package. An item analysis, comprising the item-total correlation test, was performed on the scale, which was followed by a reliability analysis that focused on the Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency factor. Furthermore, factor analysis was performed to determine the validity of the scale. The factor analysis led to the development of a two-factor scale composed of a total of 14 items. The Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency factor of the scale is 0.811. The scale was deemed appropriate for assessing the attitudes of high school students with regards to sustainable development.
The study aimed to determine students’ opinions about their ninth grade biology textbook that had been created in accordance with the constructivist learning approach. On the basis of a detailed literature review of studies on textbooks; questionnaires used for assessment of textbooks; and constructivist learning approach, a questionnaire was created and administered to 751 students from 9 schools located in the city of Trabzon. The questionnaire was classified into the following sections: contents, learning-teaching activities, assessment and evaluation activities, and physical design. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was 0.94, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0. Multiple findings pertaining to each section were obtained. Overall, it was found that the students were satisfied with their ninth grade biology textbook. While the existence of various visuals was being appreciated by most of the students, some aspects of the textbooks should be developed in order better to support constructivist learning in classrooms. The study also revealed that the questionnaire developed might be used to evaluate textbooks in terms of their appropriateness to constructivist learning theory. The findings of the study are expected to contribute to improving design for future textbooks.
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