The evaluation of effectiveness of projects and performance tasks applied in primary schools (Malatya sample)

Teaching information as it is and learning this information as it is taught have been given great importance through the years in education and instruction. As an inevitable result of this understanding, both the facilities of instruction and testing and evaluation facilities have been teacher centred, and have based on the students who have the role of passive receivers in which they recall and memorise. This situation has prevented individuals? development of higher order thinking features (problem solution, critical thinking, and creativeness).Recently, there have been rapid and important changes in the fields of culture, economy, politics, technology etc. Information has been changing rapidly; the events are explained with not one dimension, but with multiple dimensions. Learning the ways to reach the information has gained more importance than accepting information as unchangeable and learning the ways to store it. As there has been an increase in the need for individuals who search, think critically, with a developed creativeness, the education system has to be renewed by making arrangements in the direction of existing conditions. In accordance with this renovation process in Turkey, curriculums, which were formed under the frame of constructivism approach, which considers student-centred education, have been applied since 2005-2006 academic year. The curriculum, which is being practiced, has brought innovations in many fields. Among these innovations, ?"determination of alternative cases "? approaches which are about the measurement and evaluation dimensions of curriculum take part.This evaluation, which is based on constructivist approach, is about the process rather than the result. For this purpose, a variety of performance evaluation methods are used to evaluate the performance in the process of instruction. Project and performance tasks based on performance in determination of cases are among the most frequently used techniques in primary education. Moreover, positive or negative situations from the point of their effects on students can be encountered during the stages of determining the project and performance tasks, their implementations, and evaluations.In this study, determining the opinions of students and teachers about the projects and performance tasks in second grade primary schools was aimed. The study has been carried out on branch teachers serving in the second grade of 52 primary schools in Malatya city centre and on students studying in the second grade of these schools. In the analysis of the data of the study, frequency and percentages values were calculated; in accordance with the sub-objectives of the study, T-test, Anova, Bonferroni, LSD, Kruskal-Wallis and MWU tests were used.According to the findings obtained at the end of the study, differences were found in relation to a variety of variables related to items about the process of determining project and performance tasks of teachers and students, implementation process, evaluation process and about the results of these tasks.Examining the opinions of teachers, the results that female teachers consider the students? levels of development, characteristics of emotional development and environmental conditions; accept these tasks as a preparation for the lesson; pay attention to the preparation of the tasks by students themselves, not prepared by others, and not copied directly from the internet or some other sources were found.It was found that the teachers, who have 16 or over years of seniority, use the project and performance tasks as a preparation for the course and a means to give marks to students; when the professional seniority of teachers gets higher, while determining the project and performance tasks they pay more attention to choose topics that increase students? interest and curiosity; and they give more importance to students recognition of themselves. It was understood that the development of students? higher order thinking abilities was given more importance in small and middle classrooms, in classrooms with a small population alternative measurement and evaluation methods are used more than middle classrooms.Moreover, it emerged that the teachers who have taken in-service training about project and performance tasks choose topics that will take students? interests, can ensure their higher order development and develop their creative thinking abilities more than teachers without in-service training. Also, teachers without in-service training use project and performance tasks more for the aim of resolving students? learning deficiencies and consolidating students? learning at the end of each lesson.When students? opinions are examined, female students show more interest to project and performance tasks, benefit more from the scientific methods and techniques while doing their project tasks and are preparing more posters than male students. However, it was found out that male students do their project and performance tasks for the purpose of learning and resolving their learning deficiencies.It appeared that when the classroom size decreases, teachers accept the project topics determined by the students and act in accordance with their interests.It was understood that when students? mothers level of education increase, students benefit more from the scientific methods and processes; students whose fathers are university graduates get more help from their fathers while doing their project and performance tasks. Furthermore, it was found out that students of financially poor families think they spend too much money while doing their project and performance tasks.