Analyzing Entrepreneurship Skill Levels of the 3 rd Grade Primary School Students in Life Sciences Course Based on Different Variables

The purpose of this study is to investigate Life Sciences course entrepreneurship skills of the 3 grade primary school students as evaluated by their parents. The study was conducted with the screening model. The participants of the study were the parents (47 mothers and 23 fathers) of the students (32 girls, 38 boys) who study in the center of the province of Adıyaman, Turkey, in the academic year of 2017-2018. In order to collect the data, “entrepreneurship skill condition” survey form, which evaluates the entrepreneurial gains from the 1 and 2 grade Life Sciences course, was used. According to the findings, the entrepreneurship skill level of the students was found 98.81 out of 130, which is “good”. The entrepreneurship skill level of the students showed a significant difference depending on the parent variable, where mothers evaluated their children more favorably compared to fathers. The entrepreneurship skill level of the students did not show a significant difference depending on their gender. Depending on their success in the school and the Life Sciences course, however, there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in their entrepreneurship skill level. A positive correlation was detected between the entrepreneurship skill level and the success in the school and the Life Sciences course. The entrepreneurship skill level of the students also varied significantly (p<0.05) depending on their self-confidence level. High self-confidence and the entrepreneurship skill level were found to be positively correlated.


Introduction
Since the primary school children see facts and events as a whole, it is not appropriate to divide the courses into scientific fields such as history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology and civic studies (Sönmez, 2010, p. 5).Therefore, the curriculum of the Life Sciences course, which is formed with an interdisciplinary approach and the principle of "consolidation in education", includes topics such as family, home, school and immediate surroundings in accordance with the children's experience (Kabapınar, 2009, p. 1).According to Akınoğlu (2008, p. 2), the purpose of the Life Sciences is to prepare the children for life so that they can choose the best option when they encounter any problems.
Life Sciences have been a pivot course in the Ottoman education program since 1869 as well as the education program of the Republic of Turkey ever since its foundation.It is observed that the purpose and the content of the course have been continuously changing in order to fulfill the immediate needs of the era (Şahin, 2009; Ünişen, 2013).The cognitive basis, which is required for individuals to build norms to interact with their environment, to become aware of their own potential, to develop it in their social structure and to get to work, is introduced to the children with the Life Sciences course in the primary school (Polat & Ünişen, 2016).In this aspect, the Life Sciences course is the focal point of education since it guides children to efficiently, positively and successfully adjust to the society.
As one of the basic qualifications in the Qualifications Framework of Turkey, which is taken as a reference when constituting new programs, "Taking Initiative and the Sense of Entrepreneurship" is included in the curriculum of the Life Sciences course just like other qualifications, since Life Sciences is a pivot course.This key qualification includes "the individuals' ability to turn their thoughts into actions; carrying out and planning projects as well as being creative and open to innovation and taking risks in order to achieve goals, and taking ethical values into consideration and showing good management skills while doing so".Also, "entrepreneurship" is listed as one of the 24 basic life skills in the program (M.E.B., 2017).
The 2017 Life Sciences curriculum for the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd grades was only implemented for the 1 st grade students in the academic year of 2017-2018.Therefore, in this study, the 2010 Life Sciences curriculum entrepreneurial gains from the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd grades were taken into consideration.As it can be seen on Table 1, the entrepreneurship skill gains, being one of the 14 skills in the 2010 Life Sciences curriculum, are included in the theme 'my enthusiasm in school' with 5 items and in the theme 'my precious home' with 6 items according to the principles of "being sensitive to the common needs of the group that are unnoticed, taking risks, being open to new ideas, information and skills, accepting potential failures and criticism, showing courage to try new things and enjoying them by taking the risk of losing".
Nowadays, entrepreneurship can either be a skill included in a course or a course on its own in formal education.It is in high demand among individuals with varying age and educational background.The entrepreneurship training, which provides the individuals with necessary skills and knowledge in order to build economic values and create their own job opportunities in liberal economies especially since the 1970s (Duval-Couetil, 2013), is offered in thousands of institutions only in the US (Kuratko, 2005), and is also one of the basic qualifications in the European education.
In the contemporary world, entrepreneurship is planned to be developed as a key skill, which is included in every level of education from primary school to graduate school.Even though the qualifications may vary, each level of the entrepreneurship training carries the same purpose.There are two basic approaches that are used prevalently; one of them defines entrepreneurship as recognizing and making use of opportunities, and the other one defines it as a set of competences.When the purpose is to make people adopt entrepreneurship as a discipline of its own without embedding it in another program, it is seen that the programs are prepared in accordance with Kolb's Learning Cycle including both theory and practice.This cycle consists of the following phases: a) concrete experience, b) reflective observation, c) abstract conceptualization, d) active experimentation (van der Sijde, Ridder, Blaauw, & Deinsberg, 2008, p. 1).
Turkish entrepreneurship training literature consists of mostly theoretical studies; Güven (2010) conducted a study on the appropriateness of the life science program according to developing entrepreneurship skills; Eraslan (2011) also examined the life science program and developed suggestions about its application to develop entrepreneurship skills; Pan and Akay (2015) investigated entrepreneurship levels of the students at the faculty of educational sciences; Ay and Acar (2016) examined the views of the teachers regarding the acquisition of entrepreneurship skills; Çermik and Şahin (2015) tried to assess the social entrepreneurship traits of the prospective social sciences teachers; Çelik, İnce, and Bozyiğit (2014) studied familial factors related to entrepreneurial intentions of university students and Bozkurt and Erdurur (2013) examined the relation between entrepreneurial traits and the tendency towards entrepreneurship.As seen, the literature seems to focus on the program and lacks studies for early ages.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the Life Sciences course entrepreneurship skill level of the 3 rd grade students, who have successfully passed the 1 st and 2 nd grade Life Sciences courses, according to the observations of their parents.

The Research Methodology
This study, which was carried out to determine the entrepreneurship skill gains of the 3 rd grade students, who successfully completed the Life Sciences course in the 1 st and 2 nd grades, was conducted with the screening model.These studies focus on; collecting evidence and evaluating it in order to find cases, observe correlations and make judgments regarding past events (Karasar, 1998, p. 78), collecting data in order to determine certain traits of a group (Büyüköztürk et al., 2008, p. 15), introducing and explaining the variables regarding the interest areas, detecting the relationship between these variables and exploring the distribution of these variables as well as relevant statistics (Arseven, 2000, p. 24).

Population and Sample
The population of this study consists of the parents of 3 rd grade students who study at the primary school "a" which is located in central Adıyaman, and the primary school "b" which is located in a disadvantaged neighborhood of central Adıyaman, in the academic year 2017-2018.As the parents were regarded to observe their children better than any other, 70 parents were included in the sample of the study on voluntary basis.As it can be seen on Table 2, 42.9% of the children/students in our study group attend primary school in a central location, whereas 57.1% of them attend primary school in a disadvantaged neighborhood.67.1% of the 70 parents in this study were mothers, whereas 32.9% of them were fathers.45.7% of the children/students were female, whereas 54.3% of them were male.

Data Collection Tool
In this study, the entrepreneurship skill gains of the 3 rd grade students, who passed the Life Sciences course successfully in the 1 st and 2 nd grades, were determined by consulting their parents.
Even though the curriculum of the Life Sciences course was changed in 2017, in the academic year of 2017-2018, 3 rd grade students attended the Life Sciences courses with the curriculum of 2010.A draft for the survey form, which includes 26 items created through transforming the gains to performance indicators.Some gains were transformed into more than 1 indicator.The 5 gains were (A.1.6, A.2.9, A.3.13, A.3.29, A.3.30) from the theme 'my enthusiasm in school (from the theme of 'my precious home ' A.1.6, A.2.9, A.3.13, A.3.29, A.3.30) and the 6 gains (B.1.17, B.1.24, B.1.25, B.2.18, B.2.19, B.3.33), regarding entrepreneurship.Based on this draft and literature review and, as a result of the views from the experts in the field, a survey form was prepared including 26 items to elicit parents' views regarding their children entrepreneurship skill gain.A pre-test was carried out with 41 parents who were chosen on a voluntary basis.According to the analyses, the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was calculated as 0.91.
Entrepreneurship skills are supposed to be developed starting from the primary education in Turkey through life science courses at 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd grades.The achievement in the course, parents" financial status and the child's gender and their self-confidence were included as independent variables.The gender was especially included as Turkey ranked 130 out of 144 countries in gender equality according to 2016 World Economic Forum data (http://www.dw.com/tr/t%C3%BCrkiyenin-cinsiyet-e%C5%9Fitli%C4%9Fi-karnesi/a-36162442).

Data Collection and Analysis
The data in this study was collected from 70 parents of the 3 rd grade students in the province of Adıyaman.The parents were asked to rate the 26 items in the Section II of the entrepreneurship skill gains survey form, with the responses "yes, always (5)", yes, often (4)", "yes, sometimes (3)", "yes, rarely (2)" and "no, never (1)" according to their observations regarding their children's/students' entrepreneurship skills.The maximum score that a student can get regarding their entrepreneurship skill gain is 130, which is obtained by reversing one of the items.
The entrepreneurship skill level was evaluated thusly; 1-33 points "bad", 34-66 "average", 67-99 points "good" and 100-130 points "very good".As seen on Table 3, the minimum entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students according to their parents is 53, whereas the maximum is 127.The mean of the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students is 98.81, which corresponds to the level "good".
The independent samples t-test was used to compare the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students following their entrepreneurship gains, as observed by their parents, with the parent's gender and the student's gender as independent variables.In order to test if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students changed according to the variables such as the students' success in school, the students' success in the Life Sciences course, their financial situation, and the students' self-confidence; one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used.

Findings
This section includes the data regarding variables such as the children's/students' success in school and in the Life Sciences course, financial situation of the parents and the children's/students' self-confidence level, and how these variables affect the gains (scores) of the 1 st grade students in the Life Sciences course at the school, as evaluated by their parents;.
Table 4 includes the variables such as the 3 rd grade primary school children's/students' success in school and in the Life Sciences course, financial situation of the parents and the students' self-confidence level according to their parents' observations.As it can be seen on Table 4, the parents expressed their children's/students' success in school as 54.3% "very good" (f=38), 40% "good" (f=28) and 5.7% (f=4) "average"; their children's/students' success in the Life Sciences course as 54.3% "very good" (f=38), 38.6% "good" (f=27) and 7.1% (f=5) "average"; their financial situation as 47.1% "good" (f=33), 45.7% "average" (f=32) and 7.1% (f=6) "bad"; and their children's/students' self-confidence level as 51.4% "good" (f=36), 37.1% "very good" (f=26) and 11.4% (f=4) "average", respectively.As it can be seen on Table 5; as a result of the independent samples t-test which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students according to their parents displays a significant change depending on the parent's gender, a significant difference was detected between the means of the groups (t=1.677;p<05).This difference is in favor of the mothers.
As a result of the independent samples t-test which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students according to their parents displays a significant change depending on the student's gender, there were not any statistically significant differences detected between the means of the groups (t=1.393;p>.05).
As a result of the independent samples t-test which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students according to their parents displays a significant change depending on the school type, there were not any statistically significant differences detected between the means of the groups (t=0.158;p>.05).It can be seen on Table 6 that as a result of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a significant change depending on the children's/students' success in school, a significant difference was detected (F=3.733; p<0.05).In order to see which groups were the sources of this significant difference, complementary post-hoc analyses were carried out.
With the Levene's test, it was detected that the variance of the group distribution was homogenous (LF=0.126;p>0.05).Therefore, the LSD multiple comparison technique was chosen, which is commonly used when there is homogeneity of variance.The results of the LSD multiple comparison analysis are presented below.It can be seen on Table 7 that as a result of the post-hoc LSD test following the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine in which subgroups the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a change depending on the children's/students' success in school; there was a statistically significant difference detected between the group "very good" and the group "average" in favor of the group "very good", and there was a statistically significant difference detected between the group "good" and the group "average" in favor of the group "good" (p<0.05).According to these results, the entrepreneurship skill level of the students with a success level of "very good" and "good" in school were higher than the students with a success level of "average".In other words, there's a positive correlation between the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students and their success in school.It can be seen on Table 8 that as a result of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students according to the parents displays a significant change depending on the children's/students' success in the Life Sciences course, a significant difference was detected (F=4.197; p<0.05).In order to see which groups were the sources of this significant difference, complementary post-hoc analyses were carried out.With the Levene's test, it was detected that the variance of the group distribution was homogenous (LF=0.209;p>0.05).Therefore, the LSD multiple comparison technique was chosen, which is commonly used when there is homogeneity of variance.The results of the LSD multiple comparison analysis is presented below.It can be seen on Table 9 that as a result of the post-hoc LSD test following the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine in which subgroups the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a change depending on the students' success in the Life Sciences course; there was a statistically significant difference detected between the group "very good" and the group "average" in favor of the group "very good", and there was a statistically significant difference detected between the group "very good" and the group "good" in favor of the group "very good" (p<0.05).According to these results, the entrepreneurship skill level of the students with a success level of "very good" in the Life Sciences course were higher than the students with a success level of "good" and "average".In other words, there's a positive correlation between the entrepreneurship skill level of the students and their success in the Life Sciences course.It can be seen on Table 10 that as a result of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a significant change depending on the financial situation of the parents, there was not any significant difference (F=0.251;p>0.05).
Table 11.The results of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the students displays a significant change depending on the students' self-confidence It can be seen on Table 11 that as a result of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a significant change depending on the children's/students' self-confidence, a significant difference was detected (F=4.594; p<0.05).In order to see which groups were the sources of this significant difference, complementary post-hoc analyses were carried out.With the Levene's test, it was detected that the variance of the group distribution was homogenous (LF=1.161;p>0.05).Therefore, the LSD multiple comparison technique was chosen, which is commonly used when there is homogeneity of variance.The results of the LSD multiple comparison analysis is presented below.
Table 12.The results of the post-Hoc LSD test following the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine in which subgroups the entrepreneurship skill level of the students displays a change depending on the students' self-confidence It can be seen on Table 12 that as a result of the post-hoc LSD test following the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine in which subgroups the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a change depending on the students' self-confidence; there was a statistically significant difference detected between the group "very good" and the group "average" in favor of the group "very good", and there was a statistically significant difference detected between the group "good" and the group "average" in favor of the group "good" (p<0.05).According to these results, the entrepreneurship skill level of the students with a self-confidence level of "very good" and "good" were higher than the students with a self-confidence level of "average".In other words, there's a positive correlation between the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students and their self-confidence.

Results, Discussion and Suggestions
This study is carried out in order to determine the entrepreneurship skill gains of the 3 rd grade students according to the observations of their parents.42.9% of the students in our study group attend primary schools in a central location, whereas 57.1% of them attend primary schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods.67.1% of the 70 parents in this study were mothers, whereas 32.9% of them were fathers.45.7% of the children/students were female, whereas 54.3% of them were male (Table 2).
The entrepreneurship skill level of the 3 rd grade students was 98.81 out of 130 according to the observations of the parents, which is "good" (Table 3).The entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students showed a significant difference depending on the parent variable (mother or father), in favor of the mothers.The children's entrepreneurship skill gains level was higher according to the mothers in comparison to the fathers (Table 5).Mahler ( 1968) believes that at the beginning of an individual's personality development, they are psychologically integrated with their mothers; whereas they separate from them incrementally over the course of their life (Akt.Corey, 2008:90).This finding may be resulting from the mothers' extensive knowledge about their children since they are more involved with the daily life and the school life of their children than the fathers.According to the previous study regarding school life; it was seen that the mothers were more involved with the school life of the children (İpek, 2011;Özbaş, 2009;Aslanargun, 2007;Arslan, 2006), and that the teachers were holding the mothers accountable regarding the children's education (Özgan & Aydın, 2010).
The entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students according to their parents did not display a significant difference depending on the students' gender (Table 5).This may be interpreted as the gender inequality reported at 2016 World Economic Forum is not affected from the female students' entrepreneurship qualities.
The parents of the 3 rd grade students rated their children's success in school as "very good" (54.3%), "good" (40%) and "average" (5.7%) respectively.They rated their children's success in the Life Sciences course as "very good" (54.3%), "good" (38.6%) and "average" (7.1%).According to the parents, the students' success in school and their success in the Life Sciences course were similar.There was a significant difference (p<0.05)detected in the students' entrepreneurship skill level depending on their success in school.This difference was in favor of the group "very good" between the group "very good" and the group "average", and in favor of the group "good" between the group "good" and the group "average" (Table 6, Table 7).There was also a significant difference (p<0.05)detected in the students' entrepreneurship skill level depending on their success in the Life Sciences course.This difference was in favor of the group "very good" between the group "very good" and the group "average", and in favor of the group "very good" between the group "very good" and the group "good" (Table 8, Table 9).
According to the findings of our study, there is positive correlation between the entrepreneurship skill level of the 3 rd grade students and their success in school and the Life Sciences course (Table 6, Table 7, Table 8, and Table 9).There is a correlation between the children's classroom experience, and their self-confidence levels and development of personality (Ültanır, 2003, p. 126).Every kind of success provides motivation and self-confidence for the child to overcome the next problem they face (Daniels and Peters, 2015:165).As a matter of fact, some students can only improve their self-confidence through academic success (Ültanır, 2003, p. 260).
The parents defined their financial situation as "good" (47.1%), "average" (45.7%) and "bad" (7.1%) respectively.The entrepreneurship level of the 3 rd grade students did not change significantly according to the financial situation of the parents (Table 10).
The parents defined the self-confidence of their children as "good" (51.4%), "very good" (37.1%) and "average" (11.4%), respectively (Table 4).The entrepreneurship level of the 3 rd grade students varied significantly according to their self-confidence (p<0.05).When the groups were compared, it was detected that this difference was in favor of the "very good" group over the "average" group and also in favor of the "good" group over the "average" group regarding self-confidence.So, the entrepreneurship skill level of the students who had "very good" or "good" self-confidence levels were higher than the ones with "average" self-confidence.In other words, there is a positive correlation between high self-confidence and the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students (Table 11, Table 12).Previous studies show that there is also a positive correlation between self-confidence and the cognitive, social, affective and psychomotor skills of children (Özdemir, 2016;Kolucka & Lemish, 2011;Güneş, 2017;Yarımkaya, 2013;Bulut & Kılıçaslan, 2009;Andreasen, 2005;Schunk, 2009;Tokinan & Bilen, 2011;Karagül, 2012;Akkaya, 2012).
Since self-confidence has various aspects, it is difficult to define an individual as a person with high or low self-confidence (Akyıldız, 2010:937).Self-confidence is defined as an individual's positive self-appraisal, feeling of satisfaction about who they are as a person, ability to trust their own skills in the face of problems, to recognize their emotions and skills, and to trust in themselves (Çardak, 2012;Çelik, 2012;Özbey, 2004;Bandura, 1997).There is a two-way relationship between entrepreneurship and self-confidence.As entrepreneurship training contributes to building self-confidence, being a person with high self-confidence may have a positive impact on entrepreneurship (Uluköy, Demireli, & Kahya, 2013).
The entrepreneurship skill level of the students did not show significant differences according to their gender, the type of their school or the financial situation of their parents.There is a positive correlation between the entrepreneurship skill level of the students and their success in the school and the Life Sciences course.The students who are successful in the school and the Life Sciences course also scored higher in their entrepreneurship skill level.
Another finding of this study is that the students with high self-confidence were scored higher in their entrepreneurship skill level.
Taking into consideration the positive correlation between the entrepreneurship skills and the students' self-confidence, their success in the school and the Life Sciences course; it is seen that in the competitive society of our day, we need to focus on building the children's self-confidence for them to survive (Ültanır, 2003, p. 254).
Considering that warm, safe and supportive environments help the children build self-confidence (Çardak, 2012, p. 3); the teachers need to work on increasing the children's self-respect and self-confidence in any kind of learning environment (Ültanır, 2003, p. 23), and they should not allow the impressionable children's self-confidence to be shaken by classifying them as smart and not smart (Robinson, 2003:99).
In accordance with the results of this study, it can be suggested that; The teachers carry out activities that will make the students feel successful in cognitive, social and affective areas in the learning environment, since there's a positive correlation between the students' self-confidence and their success in school, Life Sciences course, and entrepreneurship; The parents carry out activities at home that will help the primary school students gain self-confidence and the fathers become involved in their children's school life as much as their mothers are; Studies with large sample sizes are carried out that will show the impact of other primary school courses on the entrepreneurship skills of the children in addition to the Life Sciences courses; Projects are carried out in primary schools that will build self-confidence and guide the teachers and the parents, since there is a positive correlation between self-confidence and the entrepreneurship skills of the students.

Table 1 .
Entrepreneurship skill gains of the 1st-3rd grade primary school students 1 B.1.17.Accepts that she/he or her/his family members can make mistakes and that it is only natural.B.1.24.Recognizes money as a tool of exchange B.1.25.Recognizes that money is a limited source by getting involved in the preparation phase of family budget.2 B.2.18.Creates new ideas about the duties she/he can carry out at home by observing the solidarity in her/his family B.2.19.Is willing to take part in duties a family requires and is happy to do her/his part 3 B.3.33.By taking the risk of losing or failing, she/he shows courage to try new things and enjoys them.

Table 2 .
Frequency and percentage distribution of the study group

Table 3 .
The entrepreneurship skill score of the 3rd grade students

Table 4 .
The frequency and the percentage distribution of the children's/students' success in school and in the Life Sciences course, financial situation of the parents and the children's/students' self-confidence level according to their parents' observations

Table 5 .
The results of the t-test which was carried out to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a significant change depending on the variables such as parent's gender, the student's gender or the school type

Table 6 .
The results of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the children/students displays a significant change depending on the students' success in school

Table 7 .
The results of the post-Hoc LSD test following the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine in which subgroups the entrepreneurship skill level of the students displays a change depending on the students' success in school

Table 8 .
The results of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the students displays a significant change depending on the students' success in the Life Sciences course

Table 9 .
The results of the post-Hoc LSD test following the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine in which subgroups the entrepreneurship skill level of the students displays a change depending on the students' success in the Life Sciences course

Table 10 .
The results of the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) which was carried out in order to determine if the entrepreneurship skill level of the students displays a significant change depending on the parents' financial situation