Comparison of 2002 and 2004 elementary science curricula with respect to cognitive and affective characteristics of students

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2009
Oruç, Akif
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of 2004 elementary science and technology curricula at grade level 7. For this purpose, the effect of 2004 curricula on the (1) achievement of the students in knowledge, conceptual understanding and higher order thinking skills clusters, (2) attitude toward science and technology, (3) teachers’ classroom activities were evaluated. This study was conducted on 290 7th grade students at six elementary schools in 2006-2007 spring term. These schools were located in Sincan, Yenimahalle and Mamak in Ankara. Two schools were administering 2004 curricula as pilot group and four of them were teaching science with 2002 curricula. Grade level 7 was selected for the study since both 2002 and 2004 curricula were being implemented in the schools only at this particular grade level. The achievement test questions were selected from TIMMS science achievement tests and the researcher’s own questions written in line with the test plan. The questions include the common objectives of both 2002 and 2004 curricula. The Test of Science Related Attitudes was developed by Chaerul (2002). As a result of the factor analysis it was decided that, the scale contains five sub categories: Social implication of science, Scientist lifestyle, Enjoyment of learning in science lesson, Leisure interest in science, and Career interest in science. Teachers’ Classroom Activities Scale was taken from Pekiner (2007). It was decided that, the scale contains five sub categories; New Approach, Care of Teacher, Use of Equipment by teachers, Classical Classroom Activities and Processing the Subject category. The data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results of this analyses indicated no major difference between two science curricula. On the other hand, significant differences were found in leisure interest of students and use of equipment by teachers in favor of 2004 curricula. Knowledge and conceptual understanding level learning, the enjoyment of learning in science lesson and teachers’ classroom activities with reference to new approaches indicated significant results in favor of 2002 curricula.

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Citation Formats
A. Oruç, “Comparison of 2002 and 2004 elementary science curricula with respect to cognitive and affective characteristics of students,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2009.