The effect of gender and reasoning ability on the students’ understanding of ecological concepts and attitude towards science

Download
2006
Soylu, Hacer
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of gender and reasoning ability on the 8th grade students’ understanding of ecological concepts and attitude toward science. All 8th grade students from public elementary school in Tosya participated in the study. Students’ understanding, attitude toward science and reasoning ability were also measured by means of the Test of Ecology Concept (TEC), the Attitude Scale toward Science (ASTS) and the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT) respectively. In order to investigate students’ understanding deeply, interview was conducted. Results of the TEC and interview show that students have many misconceptions concerning ecosystem, population, community, decomposers, food chain, food web, energy pyramid and energy flow. Students’ understanding for the first tier (M= 55.8), combination of first two tiers (M= 27) and combination of all three tiers (M= 21.2) were calculated according to TEC results. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) conducted to determine the effect of gender on students’ understanding of ecological concepts and attitude towards science when reasoning ability was controlled. The results indicated that there was significant gender difference in favor of girls with respect to students’ understanding of ecological concepts and attitude towards science when reasoning ability was controlled (Wilks’ Lambda=0.97; p=.00).

Suggestions

Effectiveness of conceptual change text-oriented instruction on students' understanding of cellular respiration concepts
Cakir, Os; Geban, Ömer; Yuruk, N (Wiley, 2002-07-01)
This study investigated the effect of conceptual change text-oriented instruction over traditional instruction on students' understanding of cellular respiration concepts and their attitudes toward biology as a school subject. The sample of this study consisted of 84 eleventh-grade students from four classes of a high school. Two of the classes were assigned randomly to the control group, and the other two classes were assigned randomly to the experimental group. During teaching the topic of cellular respir...
A group of students' and teachers' perceptions with respect to biology education at high school level
Özcan, Nesrin; Öztekin, Ceren; Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education (2003)
This study aimed to explore students̕ and teachers̕ perceptions with respect to biology education at high school level in order to reveal the reasons of students̕ low achievement in biology as indicated by the university entrance examinations between the years 1996-2002. The study was conducted with a qualitative approach. Therefore two separate interview schedules were developed to be conducted with 45 high school biology teachers and 45 eleventh grade science students in 10 schools including private, Anat...
The Effect of project based learning oriented instruction on students’ understanding of human circulatory system concepts and attitude toward biology /
Cömert, Gülsüm Gül; Geban, Ömer; Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education (2014)
The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of project based learning oriented instruction (PBLOI) on 11th grade students’ achievement in human circulatory system concepts and their attitudes toward biology as a school subject when compared to traditional designed biology instruction (TDBI). Seventy two 11th grade students from two classes in a public high school in Ankara participated in this study in the second semester of 2008-2009. These classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental g...
Conceptual change oriented instruction and students' misconceptions in gases
Azizoğlu, Nursen; Geban, Ömer; Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education (2004)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied by demonstrations and gender on tenth grade students̕ understanding of gases concepts, and attitudes toward chemistry. Hundred tenth grade students from two classes taught by the same teacher in a public high school were enrolled in the study in the Fall semester of 2003-2004. Control group students were taught by traditionally designed chemistry instruction (TI), while experimental group students ...
The Effect of 5e learning cycle instruction on 10th grade students’ understanding of cell division and reproduction concepts
Arslan, Harika Özge; Geban, Ömer; Sağlam, Necdet; Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education (2014)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 5E learning cycle instruction (LCI) and gender on 10th grade students’ understanding and achievement in cell division and reproduction concepts, and their alternative conceptions on these concepts compared to conventional classroom instruction (CCI). The sample consisted of 241 students from two public high schools at Ankara. The classes were randomly assigned to CCI and LCI groups. In the LCI groups, 5E learning cycle model was used, whereas in the...
Citation Formats
H. Soylu, “The effect of gender and reasoning ability on the students’ understanding of ecological concepts and attitude towards science,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2006.