  Student attitudes and approaches to problem solving can impact how well they
learn physics. Prior research in the US using a validated Attitude and
Approaches to Problem Solving (AAPS) survey suggests that there are major
differences between students in introductory physics and astronomy courses and
physics experts in terms of their attitudes and approaches to physics problem
solving. Here we discuss the validation, administration and analysis of data
for the Turkish version of the AAPS survey for high school and university
students in Turkey. After the validation and administration of the Turkish
version of the survey, the analysis of the data was conducted by grouping the
data by grade level, school type, and gender. While there are no statistically
significant differences between the averages of various groups on the survey,
overall, the university students in Turkey were more expert-like than
vocational high school students. On an item by item basis, there are
statistically differences between the averages of the groups on many items. For
example, on average, the university students demonstrated less expert-like
attitudes about the role of equations and formulas in problem solving, in
solving difficult problems, and in knowing when the solution is not correct,
whereas they displayed more expert-like attitudes and approaches on items
related to meta-cognition in physics problem solving. A principal component
analysis on the data yields item clusters into which the student responses on
various survey items can be grouped. A comparison of the responses of the
Turkish and American university students enrolled in algebra-based introductory
physics courses shows that on more than half of the items, the responses of
these two groups were statistically significantly different with the US
students on average responding to the items in more expert-like manner.
