The effect of the project-based learning approach in biology education on secondary school students' metacognitive awareness and critical thinking tendencies

The aim of this study is to research the effect of the project-based learning approach, which was implemented in the scope of biology education, on secondary school students? metacognitive awareness and critical thinking tendencies. The pre-test and post-test model with no control group, one of the quantitative research methods, and the interview technique, one of the quantitative research methods, were used. When the quantitative results from the study were examined, it was observed that the post-test scores of the metacognitive awareness of students were higher than pre-test scores. When the metacognitive awareness inventory was examined on the basis of sub-dimensions, there has come out a significant difference in favour of the post test, considering the pre-test and post-test scores of the sub-dimensions of procedural information, monitoring and evaluation. And there has not come out any significant difference amongst the pre-test and post-tests of the sub-dimensions of explanatory information, situational information, planning, debugging, information management. Similarly, it is observed that the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores regarding the critical thinking tendency of the students was in favour of the post test. When the critical thinking was considered on the basis of sub-dimensions, there has come out a significant difference in favour of the post test on the sub-dimensions of analyticity, broadmindedness and systematicness, however, it has been understood that there is not a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the dimensions of curiousness, self-confidence, search for truth.