Vol. 12(23), pp. 1146 -1153, 10 December, 2017 DOI: 10.5897/ ERR2017.3378 Article Number: 7BFA8AA66871 ISSN 1990-3839 Educational Research and Reviews Copyright © 2017 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR Full Length Research Paper The aims and learning attainments of secondary and high school students attending science festivals: A case study Gonca KEÇECİ Department of Science Education, Faculty of Education, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey. Received 18 September, 2017; Accepted 7 November, 2017 This study was conducted to determine the aims and learning attainments of secondary school and high school students participating in science festivals. A case study approach which is one of the qualitative research methods was used in the research. This study was carried out in the science festival held in Elazığ, Turkey. The sampling consists of 39 students; 19 secondary school students and 20 high school students were selected on a voluntary basis from the secondary and high school students who were visitors of science festival. In the study, semi-structured interview form and demographic information form were used as data collection tool. Data were analyzed with content analysis. In this study, the aim of students participating in science festivals was acquiring new information, a sense of curiosity, applying the knowledge they acquire in everyday life, entering science competitions with new projects they develop from fresh ideas, and having an interest in science. Students express their learning attainments as acquiring new information, expanding their perspectives, learning about the uses of technology, using the information in daily life and exhibiting a positive attitude toward knowledge and nature. Key words: Science festival, secondary school, high school, students, learning attainments. INTRODUCTION The concept of "lifelong learning" has gained great important role in educating science literate individuals importance in the 21st century. Training of scientific with lifelong learning skills (Bruce and Bruce, 2000). literacy students is frequently encountered in There are some differences between science festivals, contemporary science curricula and constitutes the vision science Olympiads and science fairs. Science festivals of curriculums. In addition to the education provided at are increasingly becoming a global phenomenon, educational institutions, students can also participate in including some small, localised events reaching small activities are done outside school environments to groups, up to nationwide events reaching many millions support the students to be as science literate individuals. (Bultitude et al., 2011). Science festivals are organizations In this context, science festival and science fair play an that include fairs, exhibitions, science shows and E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]. Authors agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Keçeci 1147 demonstrations, stage shows, street presentations, When the literature was searched, studies related to workshops, outdoor activities, interviews, etc., to reflect science festivals and science fairs were encountered the integrity between science and technology, enabling (Grote, 1995; Bunderson and Anderson, 1996; Abernathy scientific information to be widely distributed. Science and Vineyard 2001; Kankelborg, 2005; Rennie, 2007; fairs, in which participants share their research results Yayla and Uzun, 2008; Bultitude, McDonald and with their friends, teachers, parents, scientists and other Custead, 2011; Durant, 2013; Mernoff et al, 2017). people in the society, are generally smaller organizations Extracurricular science activities are encouraged by than science festivals. Although science fairs and science many researchers. For the findings of the recent studies, Olympics have different applications, they mostly contain both number of organizations named as science festival a competition environment. Science fair focuses on a and the number of participants participating in these single student's experiment but science Olympiad organizations increased (Yaşar and Baker, 2003), the emphasizes teamwork (Abernathy and Vineyard, 2001). participants saw science fairs as fun places and found The science festivals, science Olympiad and science new things in these fairs (Abernathy and Vineyard, 2001). fairs that have taken different forms around the world These projects are aimed to provide students to have the same general aims as follows: they contribute to participate in scientific research process, to support their the creation of creative ideas by arousing scientific development in line with their interests and skills, to gain curiosity in human beings; allow them to base their the features of thinking, curiosity and inquiry. Science everyday events on scientific grounds; contribute to festivals help participants to carry out experiments at the positive developments of the participants’ knowledge and point of creativity, to develop scientific literacy and to scientific studies with various applications. conduct projects (Tortop, 2013a). Science festivals help When the background of non-school learning to increase curiosity about new areas of scientific environments is examined, it is recognized that there are knowledge (Jensen and Buckley, 2014). different forms of organizations of countries. First, As there are positive effects of the science festivals on science exhibitions originated by American Instıtute of the participants, there are also negative effects of science Science and Technology in 1828 exposition were public fairs. It is observed that the number of students receiving expositions that award the inventors. American Instıtute awards in science fairs is very small compared to the of Science and Technology held the first student science number of students participating in science fairs. This fair in 1928 (Bellipanni and Lilly, 1999). The first of UK situation causes disappointment in the students and the science festivals was the annual conference, that was participants in science fairs have a negative attitude renamed a Festival of Science in the 1980s and is now towards "competition" and "equal opportunity" points the British Science Festival, held by the British (Yaşar and Baker, 2003). The competition platform also Association for the Advancement of Science in 1831 causes students to feel worried and stressed and (Buckley and Hordijenko, 2011). In Turkey, Scientific and increases their anxiety level (Wang and Yang, 2003). Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) According to Hampton and Licona (2006), the science and the Ministry of National Education (MNE) promote fairs have led to negative experiences that prevent various projects that can be named as science festivals; especially border students from enjoying science and 2201-National Primary School Mathematics Olympiad, achieving science understanding. 2202-2203-National and International Science Olympics, When the studies in Turkey on science festivals and 2204-Secondary School Students Research Projects fairs are examined, it is realized that the existing studies Competition for the primary and secondary school are mostly about "This is My Work" project (Tortop, students, “This is My Work” Project. There are two 2013a, b, c; Bolat et al., 2014; Tortop, 2014; Özel and different programs that have received much demand in Akyol, 2016). The aims of some other studies in Turkey recent years, that participation is high and are supported are that; a study examined the attitudes of participants to by TUBITAK. 4007-Science Festival Support Program nature and insects (Tezcan and Gülperçin, 2008), the aims to do the following: spread scientific culture and effect of science fairs on students' attitudes towards science communication to wider areas of society, to chemistry lessons were examined (Şahin, 2012), the increase interest of the society, encourage children and effects of science festivals on scientific beliefs and young people to make a career in all scientific fields, Science Teachers' success were examined (Yavuz et al., integrate different sections with scientists and transmit 2014), the impacts of a secondary school science scientific knowledge in an amusing environment exhibition on the students in charge in the exhibition were exhibitions, workshops, lab workshops and preferably examined (Şahin and Çelikkanlı, 2014), the effect of interactive applications such as thematic games, science fairs on the 6th grade primary school competitions, stage shows, demonstrations, interviews. students’attitude towards the science course was 4006-TUBITAK Science Fairs Call Program aims to give examined (Yıldırım and Şensoy, 2016) and in another support to the science fairs which provide an environment study the effects of science fair practices on the attitudes where 5th - 12th grade students can show the results of of prospective science teachers towards science teaching researches on the basis of their interests. and students towards science were examined (Durmaz et 1148 Educ. Res. Rev. al., 2017). Table 1. Gender frequency table of students. This study was conducted with the secondary and high school students who were visitors of 4007-Science Gender f % Festival supported by TUBITAK. The science festival had Female 7 17.95 workshops that addressed groups from pre-school to Male 32 82.05 adult levels and also lab workshops and preferably