The effect of inquiry based learning approach to science success, inquiry, self regulation and meta cognitive skills

The aim of this study is to investigate the inquiry based learning approach in the 5th grade "Light and Spreading" unit in elementary science class, the students' academic achievement, inquiry ability, self - regulation ability and metacognitive perceptions.In the study, quasi-experimental design with pre-test-post-test control group was used. The universe in this study is 5th grade students studying in Havza, Samsun Province in 2016-2017 academic year.And the sample consists of 31 students training in 5th grade in a school in Havza, 15 of whom are in experimental group and 16 are in control group. In experimental group the activities prepared by researchers according to inquiry-based teaching approach were applied during 6 weeks while the subject was taught with a method which was previously applied in control group. As a data collection tool; achievement test, Inquiry Learning Skills Perception, Self-Regulation Skills and Metacognitive Awareness Scales were used in the study.The validity and realibility studies of the test which was developed to measure students' success about 'Light and Spreading' unit were performed.The questions of the achievement test were prepared taking account of the learning outcomes of the Ministry of National Education (2015) Science lesson curriculum. SPSS 20.0 statistical package program was used in the analysis of the data.Normal distrubition of data was checked by using skewness and kurtosis values and Kolmogorov Smirnov test.Parametric tests were applied to data that have normal distribution.t test and ANCOVA assumptions were checked and application of the test was found appropriate.Results were assessed at the level of significance (p=0,05).In the research,it has been achieved inquiry based learning approach as an effective to developing academic success, inquiry learning skills, metacognition and self-regulation skills.When examining the results of applied achievement test,overcoming misconception in questions has been observed.It has been seen that students have higher success in the questions that can be searched and practiced.Science lesson is one of the lessons requiring the inquiry based learning.Students should make observation in the lessons,explore the information by planning and practicing by themselves,interpret the information by researching,supporting researching results and analyzing.It is suggested in order to teachers can use this approach effectively in their lessons should develop different activities and be guided in their practice. In addition, various suggestions were made for researchers.