Abstract

The purpose of this survey study was to reveal secondary school students’ views about to
what extent science labs are in use, labs and chemistry teachers are prepared for applying
revised chemistry curriculum based on constructivism at secondary schools. 2289 secondary
school students from various school types and grades who had chemistry course were
administered “The Student Demographics Form” and “The Questionnaire for Views on Lab
Applications” (QVLA) in 2008-2009 academic year in Izmir. The students reported that no
extra lesson for making experiment was scheduled; they were not informed about the
experiments before performing them and although the teacher controlled each step of the
experiments, lab applications were not a part of the course assesment. They also reported that
the experiments were consistent with the lesson content; they made experiments consciously
in secure lab settings and discussed the results of experiments with their chemistry teacher.
Further analysis were conducted according to school type, grade and gender and the results
were discussed accordingly

Key words: Secondary School Students’ Views; Lab Applications; Chemistry Instruction.