The Effect of learning cycle approach on students academic achievement and recall level in science classes

ABSTRACT THE EFFECT OF LEARNING CYCLE APPROACH ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND RECALL LEVEL IN SCIENCE CLASSES Emine Aysın KÜÇÜKYILMAZ Department of Elementary Education, Class Teacher Training Programme Anadolu University Graduate School of Educational Sciences, 2003 Advisor: Prof. Dr. Şefik YAŞAR The rapid development in science and technology brings about changes in the structure of societies, likewise, so does the expectations of the societies from the educational institutions and the objectives of education change accordingly. The societies have been expecting from the educational system that it would bring up thinking, productive, inquisitive individuals who are capable of solving problems and applying the methods of problem-solving into new problems they have and who will be able to keep pace with the rapid change and manage to lead the change into development. In bringing up individuals having such qualities, science classes and science education have a great significance. Qualities mentioned above are not likely to be transferred to students through a traditional way of transferring the knowledge and asking for it back. That a student attains the rapidly increasing content in the traditional ways is not seem to be feasible. The student needs some educational approaches like solving problems, grasping and applying the ways to acquire knowledge, forming the knowledge by himself rather than taking it as it is given. One of these approaches is constructivism and one of its applications in science teaching is learning cycle approach. IVThis research was carried out to define the effect of learning cycle approach on learners' academic achievement and recall levels in the fifth grade science classes of elementary school. In this research, pre and post test controlled group model was used. The application related to the study was carried through the 5/A and 5/B students during the first term of 2002-2003 academic year at Eskişehir Yunusemre Elementary School. To gather data and evaluate the students' academic achievement and recall levels, an achievement test, related to fifth grade science class "Sound and Light" unit was given to students. A personal questionnaire was developed to match up the students, and to study the unit, in accordance with the learning cycle, course plans and materials were developed. SPSS program was used in the statistical analysis of data collected. For within group comparisons dependant t-test was used and.05 was accepted as the level of significance. After the analysis of the data, the following findings were taken: 1. There was no significant difference between the experimental group that the learning cycle approach was applied to and the control group that a traditional teaching method was applied on science class. 2. In terms of the level of recalling the knowledge, there is a significant difference in favor of the experimental group which the learning cycle approach was applied to and the control group which a traditional teaching method was applied to.