ATTITUDES TOWARDS BIOLOGY COURSE AND THE ACADEMIC SELF CONCEPT OF THE STUDENTS ATTENDING AT ANKARA SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL

This study aimed at analyzing the attitudes towards biology course and the academic self concept of the students of a science high school on the basis of the variables of a) gender, b) grade, c) success and d) the faculty they plan to study at. The study was conducted with the participation of 322 students from Ankara Science High School. A 32-items attitude scale for biology course, an 8-item academic self concept scale and personal information form were used for data collection purpose. Alpha reliability coefficient of the attitude scale for biology course was calculated as 0.98 and of the academic self concept scale as 0.81. In data analysis, t-test was used for pairwise group comparisons and one-way ANOVA analysis and Scheffe test for the comparisons between more than two groups. Study results revealed a statistically significant difference between male and female science high school students in terms of attitudes towards biology course and the academic self concept, the difference being in favor of female students.