Teachers` opinions about the effectiveness of science course to have students acquire scientific attitude and behavior in primary education

One of the fundemental aims of the Science Course, which is one of the main courses inprimary education, is to make students scientifically curious, to improve their scientificattitude and skills, and to convert them into behavior. Bringing up individuals withscientific attitudes and behavior is of great importance in terms of both scientific andtechnological development. Therefore, students to have scientific attitude and behavioris one of the significant functions of the Science Course.In this survey, it was aimed to determine theachers? opinions about the effectiveness ofthe Science Course while having students acquire scientific attitude and behavior inprimary education.This survey was conducted in 2004-2005 academic year, in six primary schools ofMinistry of Education in Eskişehir. In the study, twenty class teachers were interviewed.The survey data were colletcted through semi-structured interviews, a method which isqualitative, in order to gain invights into teachers? opinions. The data was analyzed viathe descriptive statistics, then the findings were digitilized and presented.The findings of the survey revealed that some of the teachers found the Science Courseeffective and sufficient to have the students scientific attitude and behavior, whereas theothers did not agree on. Additionally, it was obtained that the teachers had some troblesin practice. These problems were identified as lack of equipment, inadequate practiceopportunity, insussicient time, uninteresting topics, over population in classroom, someproblems in the organization of trips, the students? indifference to the Science Course,no application opportunity like practice garden, and low success rate in Science Course.Furthermore, the teachers? opinions and suggestions were elicited about the provision ofscientific attitude and behavior, and the effectiveness of the Science Course.