Evaluation of the attitudes and opinions of classroom teachers carrying out unified and independent classes related to life science teaching

In the study, it is aimed to examine the attitudes of classroom teachers who work in unified and separate classrooms towards teaching Life studies lesson. In the research, mixed method was used in which qualitative data were used together with quantitative data. While the scanning model was used to evaluate the quantitative data, the phenomenological design was used to evaluate the qualitative data. The working group of the research consists of classroom teachers working in Aksaray province in the 2018-2019 academic year. In the research, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher with the "Life Sciences Teaching Attitude Scale" developed by Sarıkaya, Özgöl and Yılar (2017) was used. Within the scope of the research, "Life Studies Teaching Attitude Scale" was applied to 412 classroom teachers and 400 scales were evaluated. The interview form was applied to 60 teachers. 15 of the interview forms were excluded from the evaluation because they were filled incompletely. Therefore, the evaluation was made on 45 people. When the quantitative dimension of the study was analyzed, it was determined that classroom teachers had a positive attitude level towards life studies teaching. The attitudes of the teachers within the scope of the study towards life studies teaching did not differ significantly according to the gender variable. When the attitude scores of the classroom teachers were evaluated considering the class type variable they were teaching, no statistically significant difference was found in both the whole scale and the liking and caring sub-dimensions. However, a significant difference was found in the appraisal sub-dimension of the scale in terms of the type of class in which the teachers worked. It can be stated that teachers working in joined classrooms have a more positive attitude in terms of valuing than teachers in independent classes. The attitude scores of the teachers participating in the study towards life studies teaching did not differ according to their service time. In the qualitative dimension of the study, the opinions of teachers working in both class types about life studies lesson were taken. Accordingly, almost all of the teachers find the textbook insufficient. It was stated that problems such as the inability to concretize the subjects in the course content, lack of application opportunities, insufficient school equipment, indifference of families in the education process and technological inadequacies negatively affect the effectiveness of life studies lesson. As a result of the research, student-based problems such as student indifference, not reinforcing the lessons at home, not increasing the diversity of teaching, the teaching process being teacher-centered, teacher-based problems such as the lack of teacher opinion in the process of creating the source book and the excess of the acquisitions were determined. Teachers participating in the study stated that life studies lesson helps the individual to get to know himself and his environment and the importance of the lesson was emphasized. It is stated that the course is the basis for other courses. In addition, it was emphasized that the physical condition of the classroom is very important for concretizing the subjects and expressing them effectively.