The effect of using reading comprehension strategies in science course on academic and reading comprehension achievement, analytical thinking and problem solving skills of fourth grade students

This study aims to investigate the effects of using reading comprehension strategies in fourth-grade science lessons on students' academic achievement in science, reading comprehension performance, analytical thinking skills, and problem-solving abilities. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control groups—one of the quantitative research methods—was employed. The participants consisted of 34 students enrolled in a public school in Konya during the 2023–2024 academic year, with 17 students in both the experimental and control groups. To collect data, the following instruments were used: the Student Personal Information Form, Reading Comprehension Achievement Test, Problem-Solving Skills Test, Analytical Thinking Skills Scale, and Science Academic Achievement Test. While the science lessons for the experimental group were conducted using reading comprehension strategies, the control group received instruction based on traditional teaching methods implemented by the classroom teacher. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney U Test for independent samples, the Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test, and simple correlation analysis were utilized. The results indicated that the post-test scores of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group in reading comprehension, science academic achievement, and problem-solving skills. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of analytical thinking skills. In conclusion, the findings suggest that the implementation of reading comprehension strategies enhances students' reading comprehension abilities, improves their academic performance in science, and fosters their problem-solving skills, although it does not significantly influence their analytical thinking skills. Furthermore, a moderately positive and significant correlation was found between reading comprehension and science achievement in the experimental group, while no such relationship was observed in the control group. A strong and statistically significant correlation was also identified between problem-solving skills and science achievement among experimental group students. On the other hand, no meaningful correlations were found between reading comprehension and problem-solving skills, reading comprehension and analytical thinking, or problem-solving and analytical thinking skills in either group.