A study on evaluation of the biology projects submitted to the TUBITAK secondary education research projects contest from the Bursa Region

The project works that are not based on scientific terms, concepts, and approaches do not only cause loss of time and effort for non-interesting subjects, but also make teaching difficult by causing a misunderstanding of many concepts. Craven and Hogan (2008) have indicated in their study that students do not fully grasp the conceptual infrastructure which undergirds project efforts. We must not allow this kind of an educational difficulty to be made worse through new project efforts. This in turn brings into question the scientific acquisitions of institutions. Supporting the place of a well-prepared project in the current structure of science and technology in a justifiable manner and through literature studies, reasoning over the hypotheses of it, and determining the conceptual and theoretical framework of it well increase the originality of the project. It should be noted that the methods chosen should be compatible with the purpose, support the suggested solution approach, and contain necessary variables. There should be appropriate infrastructure facilities for the project to be carried out. In addition, the project should be prone to obtaining broad results that can be employed in different fields, and have a capability to generate solutions to the problems of society.

When the projects were revised in accordance with evaluation criteria, it was seen that projects were mostly below the desired level or the level expected from related age groups, and the subjects were not processed well and planning was not good in the projects in which advanced level project subjects were selected. Moreover, the fields to which some subjects were close could not be determined by guidance counselors or related jury members until the final stage.

Based on evaluation by scientific criteria, Table 5 indicates that a partial success was achieved in the determination of problem (50.5%), the planning of method (33.2%), and the consistency between the purpose and solution of problem (42.5%) This partial success implies that the effort made for projects and assignments was not sufficiently understood and effectively implemented at educational institutions and organizations. If what was indicated in the related regulations and other instructions had been performed, higher values could have been obtained.

The subjects selected for projects should motivate students to study, provide them with skills to use tools and equipment, be about real life, pave the way for different studies, give an opportunity for them to develop their mental and physical abilities, cover desired activities, be freed from useless endeavors, should be worth of investment in the tools, equipment and references employed, and result in a proper output (Gözüm, et al., 2005).

Establishing a hypothesis is one of the most important stages of scientific research. Based on the evaluations made by experts in accordance with project evaluation criteria, it is seen that 41.6% of the projects are unsuccessful in making a prediction for the solution of problem and determining the way to be followed for reaching solution. If school administrators and other institutions and organizations make an effort in the matter of project management and support students and teachers, more successful results can be obtained (Özer and Özkan, 2012).

It was determined that the methods employed in most of the projects (40.7%) did not contain the variables necessary for testing the project hypotheses, and that the experimental processes required by the projects were not carried out (30.8%). It was observed that teachers and students were incompetent about scientific process skills despite high-level expectations in the MEB legislation. A serious lack of attention to utility and applicability is also the case.

Another problem is about proper data collection. It was understood that there were significant deficiencies in both recording the collected data (43.9%) and analyzing such data (40.7%). However, it is not technically difficult to eliminate this deficiency.

It goes without saying that originality has a special place in projects. If a project is based on research culture and problem-solving demands, it is needed to meticulously abide by a scientific research method, carefully plan such method, duly manage the process, and prepare result report. In consideration of the originality values of 107 Biology projects under examination, it is seen that those with the highest originality values only have an originality value of 10.3%, which points to another basic deficiency of the projects under examination. It was seen that although there was a partial consistency between the purposes and solutions of the projects, there was no consistency between the problems and sub-problems (44.4%). It was found that there was no search for a new method or for implementing a known method in another field within the scope of the projects under examination (83.6%). This situation evidently resulted from the deficiency in effective construction and association of scientific methods.

It was determined that majority of 107 projects did not have any feature to be used in different scientific and technical fields, did not contribute to economy and society, and did not have any capability to put forward any broad and usable result related to their fields.

It is remarkable that the level of use of the sources reached through literature review within project report was quite low (20.6%). This is obviously a very important deficiency. It means that the existing knowledge base about the project subject was not reached or effectively used. Accordingly, there is a deficiency about reaching the information, using the information, and associating the information with project outputs, which results from lack of mental preliminary preparation about the subject. It is thought that reminding our teachers of the fact that it is necessary to consider the research subject and knowledge and findings in the literature together through appropriate environments and conditions will make important contributions to advancement.

Another result obtained in the present study is that while 52.8% of the projects were finished completely, 35.5% were finished partially. In the prepared projects, there were serious problems about putting forward a product. One more result is that there was difficulty in interpreting the cause and effect relationship only in 15% of 107 projects.

In addition, when we examine these projects in terms of their mean rank, it is seen that they have been: successful in the following criteria: Scientific Method in 2009, Literature Review in 2010, Usefulness in 2011, Literature Review in 2012, unsuccessful in the following criteria: Usefulness in 2009 and 2010, Literature Review in 2011, Scientific Method in 2012. What this phenomenon indicates is that there has been no tendency towards a significant, continuous progress in the relevant time period.

Since it is necessary to conduct and finalize projects in coherence, the experts, teachers, and officials who are to take part in the selection of competition projects must act sensitively and carefully. This is why; it is required to ensure the use of the points such as originality, problem selection, hypothesis, consistency, scientific contribution, implementability, social benefit, and general effect as criteria in the evaluation of projects, and to teach that project preparation, implementation, and finalization refers to a process that must be conducted within the framework of scientific research methods and techniques. The selectors not having the above-mentioned competence should not be assigned. A separate teaching or recall is needed for each one of these criteria.

There are differences in the distribution of the projects by school types and years. The biggest number of project applications was made in 2012 in which 36 projects (33.6% of all projects under examination) were submitted. The fewest number of applications were made in 2010 in which 19 projects were submitted. Although it is possible to say that the programs and encouragements of the authorities on the projects were not influential over the years, which can be understood from the figures belonging to years. It is very clear that the inadequacies of teachers in terms of preparing, managing, and leading projects exert an enormous influence on this matter. Kufrevioglu et al. (2011) have reached similar results in their studies, reaching the conclusion that the problems faced during the preparation of the project stem from an ignorance of the project-building process (and the management thereof).

The fact that the private schools which have 6.92% of secondary school students have a share of 31.8% in all project applications is caused to a considerable extent by that an effective teacher and family support is provided at these schools and the projects are subjected to an elimination beforehand. It is understood that a special effort is made for students to participate in project competitions, which means that students at these schools are more motivated for participating in scientific activities. This situation strengthens the impression that the same scientific support and encouragement as well as assistance required for project design and management are not provided at public schools. Although the ratio of public schools in the region is 93.08%, the ratio of participation in scientific research and project activities is just 68.2%. The study conducted by Argon and Yılmaz (2006) where the dimensions having an effect on the educational processes at primary schools were examined demonstrated that “administrators” had the highest influence, and “students” and “school environment and parents” had the lowest influence. Non-inclusion of the environment where the school is located in educational processes through school activities causes students to be educated through a process where students are not integrated with environment. The study conducted by Gür and Batır (2009) determined that the students receiving education at public schools and their parents did not find adequate this free service of the state, thus spent much money for private educational institutions and training centers. This situation shows that there are important problems in the inclusion of students in active educational processes at these educational institutions.

Although private secondary schools make up 6.92% of all secondary schools located in 8 provinces, it is clear that the students of these schools are prepared by their teachers for participating in these kinds of activities more, and their wishes for participating in scientific activities receive more support by their institutions in comparison to their peers at public schools. The effective reflection of this support in tools, materials, self-confidence, original thinking, and reporting is easily understood from the evaluated projects. These results are closely related to project design in the context of the use of scientific methods besides the reflection of outlook on research, motivation and socio-economic level in education (Çeken, 2011, 2012). The teachers taking part in provincial and regional science boards for evaluating the projects submitted to competitions need to acquire realistic and consistent evaluation criteria as well as the qualifications to implement such criteria through an effective in-service training. It is understood that the projects sent from schools were prepared without complying with particular criteria, and that the goal was to increase the number of the projects sent. Although some studies conducted abroad demonstrate that public school students are more successful than private school students (Cutts and Moseley, 2001: p.375), the situation in Turkey is contrary to this finding (Köse, 1997, 261-270; Erdoğan, 2002: p.4). The student selections of private schools have a similar effect on these results.

It is seen that 73 projects (68.2%) came from public schools, 34 (31.8%) from private schools. Among public schools, 33 (30.8%) came from Anatolian High Schools, 6 (5.6%) from regular high schools, 17 (15.9%) from Science High schools, and 16 (14.9%) from Vocational High Schools. 8 projects were considered to be worthy of being exhibited on a regional level in 2009, 9 in 2010, 5 in 2011, 9 in 2012. Following nationwide competition, 1 project was deemed worthy of being exhibited in Ankara in 2009, 1 in 2010, 1 in 2011, 1 in 2012. In the exhibition in Ankara, all five projects won awards within the scope of nationwide competitions. 25 project applications were made to the project competition in 2009, 19 were made in 2010, 27 were made in 2011, and 36 were made in 2012. A total of 107 projects were submitted to the Secondary Education Research Projects Contest held by TUBITAK from the Bursa region, over the years from 2009 to 2012, on the subject of biology. Out of these, 31 projects were considered to be worthy of being exhibited by the scientific committees of the Bursa region after the first round.

The projects in the field of biology are mostly about plants and environment. The fact that the studies on animals and certain microorganisms are considered harmful for human health and inconvenient in terms of animal rights has an important role in the prominence of the subject of plants. Project designs in the field of biology inspired by daily life can be regarded as a realistic approach. The fact that tools and equipment were easily supplied and plants were good experimental materials caused 23.4% of the submitted projects to be about Plant Physiology and Development, which was followed by Microbiology (23.4%), Human Anatomy and Physiology (13.9%), Ecology (11.3%), and Economic Botany (6.5%). Total ratio of the biology-related subjects mentioned under the aforesaid five sub-titles is 78.5%. The fact that the projects about Oncology, Biochemistry, Biology Education, Radiobiology, Ecotechnology, Genetic, Virology, Systematic Zoology, and Ethology constituted 21.5% of all projects shows that some project subjects were selected completely independently from the Science and Technology curriculum. This situation should be regarded in the sense that it requires an additional good preparation for research subjects. On the other hand, the diversity of subjects in biology provides participants with important conveniences in project design.