STUDENTS' ANXIETY ABOUT SCIENCE LEARNING, THEIR PARTICIPATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION, AND THEIR OPINIONS ON DISTANCE EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC PERIOD

Abstract

This research was carried out to determine the anxiety levels of secondary school students, who are thought to be most affected by this process, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic period, to examine the relationship between their anxiety levels and the rate of participation in distance education, and to examine their views on teaching science lessons via distance education. The research was carried out in the 2021-2022 academic year and the study group consists of secondary school students studying in Konya province and its districts. In the research, a mixed method was used in which quantitative and qualitative research methods were used together. The Anxiety towards Science Learning Scale was used to obtain quantitative data, and a semi-structured interview form was used to obtain qualitative data. Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University Ethics Committee approval was received for the research in accordance with the decision dated 07.10.2021 and numbered (E-95728670-020-35608). Analysis was carried out with the SPSS package program. Percentage and frequency distribution for descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were used to examine the relationship between variables. In the analysis of qualitative data, the interpretive phenomenological analysis method was used. According to the results of the analysis, it is found that the students' mean scores on the Science Learning Anxiety Scale were below the medium level, and there was a negative statistically significant relationship between the level of anxiety towards science learning and the duration of participation in distance education. The student's views on the distance education of the science course were both positive and negative. Some of the negative student opinions in the research findings are as follows; there are technical problems in the teaching of science lessons via distance education, there are not enough activities and experiments, the lessons given through distance education are not as effective as the lessons given in the face-to-face, students do not have live interactions with their teachers and classmates, they feel anxiety because they think they will fail the high school entrance exam and their sleep patterns are disturbed.