Research trends in modern physics education in Turkey

This research involves a content analysis of studies on modern physics education conducted in Turkey between 2000 and 2023. In this context, 273 studies accessed in full text from different databases were examined. The studies were evaluated using the "Modern Physics Education Publication Classification Form" and analyzed using the content analysis method. According to the research findings, studies in the field of modern physics education in Turkey were mostly conducted between 2010 and 2020. The study objectives varied and quantitative research designs were preferred more. Purposive sampling was predominantly employed in the studies, with most samples consisting of high school and undergraduate students. The studies generally included sample sizes ranging between 31 and 100 individuals. The duration of the studies varied between 0 and 8 weeks. To enrich the data, various data collection tools were used. Frequency, percentage, and t-tests were commonly used for quantitative analyses, while content analysis was frequently preferred for qualitative analyses. Although different validity and reliability methods were used in the studies, not enough information was provided on this issue. The results of the studies examined have shown that there are positive developments as well as negative situations in modern physics education. However, these results were not sufficiently supported by the literature in the discussion section. Based on the findings of this research, it was recommended to use different analytical methods in modern physics education research, increase the sample size, enrich methods and intervention examples.