Developing guided material for subject of photosynthesis

ABSTRACT DEVELOPING GUIDED MATERIAL FOR SUBJECT OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS Yaz?c? Atik, Gözde Master Department of Biology Teaching Programme Thesis Adviser: Doç.Dr.A.Eser ELÇ?N February - 2007 This study has been carried out to determine high school students' misconceptions on photosynthesis. 40 high school graduates (specialized on maths and science) participated in this survey as experimental group and 32 students (current students) participated in the same survey as control group. 20 questions based on comments with short answers were prepared to find out conceptions of the students. Students of both groups were asked to answer these questions. The answers were evaluated and the percentage of correct answers were determined. Five experiments were used as resource/guide material for the experimental group as demonstration. After a week, the same questions were repeated. The subject of photosynthesis was explained using lecturing method to the control group after a pretest. After a week the open ended questions were repeated. Both groups' percentages of correct answers to the last test were determined. Analyses of the data, has shown that students in the experimental group (who have been preparing to university entrance exam) had misconceptions and these misconceptions were particulary at the molecular level. It was also shown that the experimental group had a significant decline in misconceptions when compared with the control group. v The results of the study have shown that the experiments which were developed as a resource/guide material were more effective than the lecturing method and that it is highly recommended to carry out experiments when using lecturing as the teaching method. Thus, to be more specific, developing experiments on photosynthesis makes education more effective and permanent. vi