Investigation of the effect of supported activities with worksheets on the learning of cell and divisions unit of the 7th grade Science lesson

The aim of this research is to examine the effects of activities supported with worksheets in the teaching of the cell and divisions unit of the science lesson on the academic achievement of 7th grade students and their attitudes towards the science lesson. Another purpose of the research is to get students' opinions about the use of worksheets in the educational environment. The research was carried out with 35 students studying at a public secondary school in the Cide District of Kastamonu in the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. In the research, sequential explanatory design, which is a type of mixed research method in which quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together, was used. In order to determine the effect of teaching prepared with worksheets on students' academic achievement and attitudes towards science lesson, a quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test control group was used from experimental research methods. In addition, the case study method was used by collecting qualitative data with a semi-structured interview form in order to get the opinions of six students in the experimental group about the activities performed using worksheets in learning the unit of cell and divisions. For six weeks (24 lesson hours), the related unit topics were taught to the students in the control group according to the 2018 Science Curriculum, while the students in the experimental group were taught by being supported with worksheets in addition to current program. Quantitative data of the study were collected by Cell and Divisions Unit Achievement Test and Science Course Attitude Scale, and qualitative data were collected by Semi-Structured Interview Form. Quantitative data collection tools were applied as pre-test and post-test. The qualitative data collection tool, on the other hand, was applied to a total of six students by choosing two students from the low-medium-high success levels determined according to the achievement test results from the experimental group students. Quantitative data obtained from the research were analyzed with the SPSS statistical package program. In order to determine the significance of the difference between the achievement pre-test post-test scores and attitude scale results obtained from the experimental and control groups, t-test was used for dependent-independent samples in the analysis of the data. Qualitative data were also analyzed descriptively. As a result of the analysis of the data, it was determined that there was a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group students when the academic achievements and attitudes towards the science course of the experimental group students, supported by the prepared worksheets, were compared with the students in the control group. In other words, it was seen that the course taught with the support of the worksheets had a significant effect on increasing the academic achievement and attitudes of the students towards the science course. According to the results of the analysis of the data obtained from the semi-structured interview form applied to six students from the experimental group in order to support these quantitative data obtained, the students stated that they liked the science lesson more, participated in the lesson willingly and their success increased. From this point of view, it is recommended that science teachers use worksheets more frequently in addition to the existing teaching in their lessons.