Teacher and student opinions concerning 4006-TUBITAK Science Fair

The purpose of this study, 4006-Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) is to put forward both advisor teachers’ and students’ their opinions on the science fair. In the study, case study was used from qualitative research methods. The study was conducted on a voluntary basis with 15 advisor teachers and 15 students of a school that held 4006-TUBITAK science fair in the spring semester of 2017-2018 academic year. The semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used as data collection tool. Content analysis method was used in the analysis of the data. As a result, advisor teachers and students had expressed their thoughts about 4006-TUBITAK science fair with positive words. The words they use include “leadership“, “far from monotony”, “entrepreneurship”, “creativity”. These words were classified by the participants in terms of their relations with cognitive, affective and psychomotor areas. The lack of laboratory, lack of equipment, lack of tools, lack of necessary sensitivity of the school administration, students’ anxiety of exam and lack of irrelevant, teachers’ course density and lack of project experience have been shown as problems in the science fair process. In addition, advisor teachers and students stated that they also need expert support especially during the project preparation process. Participants also expressed that the 4006-TUBITAK science fair contributed to their personal development in different areas and these fields were gathered under the themes of “positive attitudes and behaviors” and “high-level thinking skills”. The participants have offered many solutions about their live problems in the 4006-TUBITAK science fair process, and considering the institutions that will apply these solution proposals, the school administration, Ministry of Education (MEB), provincial national education directorate are reported under the themes