Abstract:

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to adapt the Science Experience Scale in Informal Environments (ScESInE), which was developed by Gafoor and Narayan (2008), to Turkish culture and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scale. Design/Methodology/Approach: In the study, the Turkish translation study of the scale was performed by using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis for validity and Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient and item analysis for reliability. A total of 500 students participated in the study. The students were studying in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades of the secondary schools in the central district of the province of Karaman in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. Findings: As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, it was found that 41.01% of the total variance of the scale consisting of four factors was explained. Scale item factor load values varied between .45 and .79. As a result of the analysis done for reliability, Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficients for overall scale and observation, addition, activity, and experiment sub-dimensions were found as 85, .71, .87, .63, and .71, respectively. As a result of item analysis for reliability, the corrected item total correlations were found between .30 and 68. Finally, as a result of the confirmatory factor analysis good fit indexes were obtained (χ2 = 788.78, sd = 395, χ2 / sd = 1.99, p = 0.00; RMSEA = .045, RMR = .026, SRMR = .056 , GFI = .90, AGFI = .89, CFI = .95, NFI = .91, NNFI = .95, IFI = .99, RFI = .90). Highlights: As a result of all these analyses, it can be said that the Turkish version of the scale is valid and reliable and can be used by researchers in scientific research.

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