Using hands-on activities through inquiry teaching

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of hands-on activities through the inquiry-based instruction on science teachers' science process skills, academic achievement and views of about hand-on activities. The population of this research constitutes science teachers who work at government and private schools in East Anatolian Region of Turkey. The accessible population consist of science teachers who work at government and private secondary schools in the cities of Elazığ, Bingöl and Tunceli. The sampling of research is that science teachers who are voluntary participating in this work at government and private secondary schools in Elazığ, Bingöl and Tunceli cities. This work was performed in two phases and totally 59 science teachers from Elazığ, Bingöl, and Tunceli participated. In this research was used a one group pre-test/post-test experimental design. The Context-Based Problems Test, The Traditional Problems Test, Science Process Skill Test and View of Questionnaire About Hands-on Activities were applied as pre-test/post-test to teachers participated. After pre-tests were applied, the activities in the study were processed according to the inquiry-based instruction and then, post-tests were implemented. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed by using MANOVA and ANOVA on SPSS 17.0 statistic program. According to the results of research, it is observed that the score of Science Process Skills of female teachers in post-tests are more than male teachers' score. However, this values are not significant as statistically. As the score of The Traditional Problems Test were examined, its seen that the male teachers' scores are greater than female teacher's ones. However, an opposite situation was obtained in The Context-Based Problems Test scores. According to obtained results from this study, finally, the post-test scores of The Context-Based Problems test and The Traditional Problems test are higher than pre-test scores and these results are found to be statistically significant. Key Words: Hands-on Activities, Inquiry Teaching Methods, Scientific Process Skill,Questions Based on Life (Context).