A mixed method research for interdisciplinary science education

Many situations, which can be listed as the rapid development of science and technology, the changing needs of individuals and societies, the features expected and aimed to be developed from individuals, the existence of complex problems to be solved, have accelerated interdisciplinary studies and have been reflected in educational environments, especially in the context of changing the characteristics expected from individuals. When the interdisciplinary studies in science education are examined; it is noteworthy that the studies are limited to a certain subject area, include a limited number of disciplines and are carried out only within the science course. This study aims to examine the effects of considering the subjects in the science course with an interdisciplinary approach and integrating with different courses, on the student's motivation for the course, perception of self-efficacy and problem solving, conceptual development and academic success; reveal the thoughts of the teachers and students involved in the process about interdisciplinary science education studies. In the research, convergent parallel mixed design, which is one of the mixed research methods in which qualitative and quantitative data are collected and evaluated together, was adopted and applied. The subjects related to the pure substances and mixtures unit and the interaction of light with matter units in the science lesson were associated with the subjects of mathematics, Turkish, visual arts, technology design and social studies and these lessons were taught within the framework of the related subjects. The research was carried out with 49 students studying in a private school of a foundation in Sakarya and six teachers who attended the classes of these students. Two of the three classes at the seventh grade level at the school were designated as the experimental group and one as the control group, and while interdisciplinary education studies were carried out with the experimental group, the lessons in the control group continued without any intervention. In the classrooms where interdisciplinary education practices are carried out, the concepts in the science course are discussed in the context of physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and earth sciences within the multidisciplinary structure of the course; in other courses, the outcome of the course was taught by associating it with the science course. How the process affected students' academic achievement was measured with the academic achievement test. Semi-structured interview forms were used to reveal the views of teachers and students. The situation of the students in the lesson was measured by the observation forms filled by the teachers. The conceptual development status of the students regarding the subjects was determined by mind maps. The change in the students' self-efficacy, motivation towards the science course and their perceptions of problem solving in the study was evaluated by measuring with the relevant scales. The groups were compared in terms of academic achievement, self-efficacy, perception towards problem solving, conceptual development, motivation towards learning science and perception towards problem solving. The study was carried out in a total of 104 course hours in all courses. In the study, it was seen that the teachers generally found interdisciplinary studies valuable and necessary, and they expressed positive opinions in terms of the contribution of the study to the students, but they stated that they had some difficulties in terms of time, physical environment, measurement-evaluation system and the distribution of achievements in the curriculum. It was determined that the students were generally satisfied with the interdisciplinary studies, that the study had a positive effect on their learning, and that it increased their interest and awareness. Teachers' observations also support this situation. However, a small number of students stated that after a certain period of time they got bored, had difficulties, the subjects became more and more complex, and they had difficulty in cooperating with their friends. The results obtained from the observation forms revealed that the students associated the science lesson with the visual arts the most and the mathematics lesson the least. When evaluated in terms of academic success, it was seen that the students in the experimental group exhibited a higher academic performance both in the multidisciplinary structure of science and in establishing interdisciplinary connections. Similarly, when evaluated in terms of conceptual development, a significant difference was found in favor of the experimental group. In terms of self-efficacy and motivation to learn science, it was seen that the increase in scores in the experimental groups was higher, but this difference was not statistically significant. When evaluated in terms of perception towards problem solving, the application did not create a significant difference between the experimental and control groups.