DETERMINATION OF SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS OF 60-72 MONTHS OLD PRESCHOOL STUDENTS

The aim of this research is to determine science process skills of 6-year-old preschool students and compare their science process skill levels in terms of various variables. Study group of the research is formed of 342 students (174 females, 168 males) studying their 2nd semester of 2013-2014 educational year in the nursery classes of 15 different preschools and primary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, Kutahya. A 22-item science process skills test developed by the researchers, KR-20 reliability coefficient being 0.77, has been used as the data collection tool. The science process skills test includes sub dimensions of observing, inferring, communicating, measuring and predicting as the basic process skills. As a result of the analysis, a statistically significant relationship has been found between students' science process skills depending on their school environment (private or state), their parents' educational background, their preschool background, and type of the education (open or formal) that teacher had received. However, no significant relationship has been identified between science process skills affiliated with gender and mother's occupation. In conclusion, it is found that the private school students have significantly better science process skills over the state school students as well as the students who received preschool education have better over the ones who did not, and the students whose teacher had received formal education have better over the students whose teacher had received open education.