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The purpose of this study is to determine the effect size of gender on motivation towards science learning by combining the results of studies, which were conducted to determine the effect of gender on motivation towards science learning, via the meta-analysis method. In this context, master’s thesis, doctoral dissertations, and articles, which were conducted between 2010 and 2020, were suitable for the research problem, and had statistical data to be included in the meta-analysis study, were reviewed and examined in Turkish and English from national and international databases. As a result of the literature review, 2435 national and international studies were collected. Forty-nine studies, containing data suitable for coding protocol in accordance with the criteria determined by the researchers, were included in the meta-analysis. The sample size of 20.862 participants was obtained in the study (10.446 females and 10.416 males). The effect sizes and the combined effect sizes of the studies were calculated using “Comprehensive Meta-Analysis v 2.0 (CMA).” In the studies using the random effects model, the effect size of the gender variable on motivation towards science learning was determined to be 0.155 (95% CI, SE = 0.040). This value showed that the overall effect of the gender variable on motivation towards science learning was at an “insignificant” level in favor of the women. The results of the anova similarity analysis performed for the categorical moderators of publication type, scale type, and education level indicated that these moderators did not cause any statistically significant difference in the effect sizes. As a result of the meta-regression analysis performed for the publication year moderator – which was evaluated as a continuous variable – this moderator did not make any significant difference on the effect sizes of motivation towards science learning.

Within the scope of the current study, the researchers developed activities for middle school students to raise their awareness on the harm of plastics and microplastics, which are detrimental to nature and living things. In addition, through the activities developed, the study aimed to provide students with knowledge of and experience with bioplastics, which have emerged as an alternative to plastic materials and are environmentally friendly. Twelve eighth grade students participated in the current study. The activities developed by the researchers within the framework of the REACT strategy covered a four-week period. The researchers made sure that the activities designed included each step of the REACT strategy (Relating, Experiencing, Applying, Cooperating, Transferring) and the researchers used different tools (mind map, concept map, Vee diagram). The study suggests that activities designed for classroom use should be integrated with tools such as Vee diagram, concept map and mind map in order to increase students' knowledge and awareness about global environmental problems as well as support students' ability to produce solutions to such problems.

The study aimed to examine and compare the science self-regulation skills of gifted and non-gifted students in this study. Survey design, one of the quantitative methods, was utilized in the research. The sample of the study consisted of 263 gifted students enrolled in science and art center and 482 non-gifted students located in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Science Self-regulation Scale was used as a data collection tool in the research. Independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used in the analysis of the data. The findings showed that gifted and non-gifted students had high self-regulation skills towards science. In addition, it was found that although there was no statistically significant difference between the average scores of gifted female and male students on the overall scale, there was a significant difference in the other group. Moreover, while the difference between the mean scores obtained in the dimensions of Refinement, Time Organizing, Organizing, Help Seeking, Metacognitive Self-regulation, and Repetition was in favor of gifted students, it was in favor of non-gifted students regarding the mean scores of critical thinking and effort regulation dimensions. The conclusion and implication were discussed in line with these findings.

Epistemological beliefs can be defined shortly as beliefs about the source, certainty, organization of knowledge, and beliefs on ability and speed of learning. Word association tests (WAT) are practical alternative assessment and evaluation tools that can reveal students' thoughts on different concepts. In this regard, this research aims to investigate the gifted students' beliefs about "knowledge" and "learning" concepts by using WAT. Phenomenology design was utilized in the research. The study was carried out with 118 gifted students studying at Science and Art Center in Turkey's Central East Anatolia Region in the 2018-2019 academic year. The word association test was used as a data collection tool. In this context, participants were given the concepts "knowledge" and "learning" and asked to write their associations about these concepts. They were then asked to make a sentence about each concept. Deductive content analysis was used to analyze the data. The research findings revealed that most students have sophisticated epistemological beliefs in specific knowledge, simple knowledge, source of knowledge, and quick learning dimensions. However, it has been found that the number of students in the sophisticated and naive categories of innate ability dimension is approximately equal.