Effects of the inquiry based and social network aided laboratory activities on students' various perceptions, attitudes and success

This research aims to develop inquiry based laboratory activities for students and support these activities with social network environment for the General Chemistry Laboratory II course. Throughout the research, the effects of social network supported, inquiry based laboratory activities on students' attitudes towards general chemistry lab, their perception of science process skills and their academic achievement has studied. Static group comparison pre-test post-test design was administered for the research. Genel Kimya Laboratuvarına Yönelik Tutum Ölçeği (GKLTÖ), Bilimsel Süreç Beceri Algı Ölçeği (BSBAÖ) and Genel Kimya Laboratuvarı Başarı Testi (GKLBT) were used as quantitave data gathering means and applied to students before and after the treatment. Study group of the research is determined to be 83 students of the Science Teaching program of Education Faculty of Kastamonu University in the academic year of 2015-2016. Study group was chosen from first graders who take "General Chemistry Laboratory II" course with non-random sampling technique. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the inquiry-based learning approach positively affects the Science Teaching students' perceptions of Scientific Process Skills and their academic achievements, although has no positive or negative effect on their attitudes towards the general chemistry laboratory. It turned out that social network support positively contributed to students' attitudes towards the laboratory, but did not lead to a statistically significant change in perceptions of Scientific Process Skills and academic achievement.