Evaluation of high school physics couse curriculum in view of Newton and Quantum paradigms

The aim of this research is to evaluate high school 9-12 physics curriculum according to newton and quantum paradigms based on teachers' opinion who work at state schools. In this research, besides teachers 'opinion about curricula, it is aimed to determine their opinion about source of knowledge, acquiring it and varieties on their opinion according to several variation. The universe of this study includes state schools physics teachers who work in Adana, Bartın, Elazığ, Hatay, Kayseri, Malatya, Trabzon during 2013-2014 education year. The sample consists of 290 physics teachers who accept to fulfill the survey. For this study, data was collected by survey forms which have been formed through descriptive and scanning method. One of them is a survey on teachers 'opinion about the source of knowledge and acquiring it, the other is a survey on teachers 'opinion about high school Physics course curriculum. The data was analyzed through SPSS packet programme. To analyze the data, frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, "t" test and One way variance analysis (ANOVA)"; Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H tests have been used. The findings based on analysis in the research can be summarized as : The physics teachers who participated into the study about the source of information and acquiring it are of the opinion that knowledge can be acquired through experiment and observation. Teachers put the source of information into the order as; physical universe, mind and experiment. It has been determined that teachers who participated to the research have the perception of objective information which has close relationship with newton and positivist paradigms. It has been found out that experienced physics teachers consider the experience as the source of information; bachelor degree teachers have more dominant objective information perception than doctorate degree teachers and Faculty of education graduated teachers have closer opinion with newton paradigm about the formation of the universe. About the source of information and acquiring it, physics teachers who participated to the research adopt the opinion of subjective information perception and have close opinion to quantum paradigms about formation of the universe. Furthermore, in the view of subjective information of epistemology, female Physics teachers, master degree Physics Teachers and Teachers who work at Anatolian High School have closer opinion to the subjective information Perception. In view of holistic information, it has been found out that participant physics teachers have epistemologically holistic perception. According to variations on teachers' opinion, female physics teachers, physics teachers who work at vocational high school and teachers who do not join in-service training have closer opinion to holistic approach. Having both objective and subjective point of view and not perceiving newton against quantum show that they have epistemologically holistic information perception. In other words, participant teachers are not supporter of either newton or quantum but they have a holistic compromise of both of them. The reason of having holistic point of view can be conscious or can be not having sufficient knowledge about holistic approach. Whatever the reason is, teachers'having epistemologically holistic perception is very important for the application of 9-12 physics curriculum which have signs of newton and quantum. According to the participant high school physics teacher, HSPCC has been developed not only with the help of newton but also quantum paradigms. In the research, bachelor degree Physics teachers state that they benefit from HSPCC more than the doctorate degree Physics teachers. Moreover, physics teachers who work at science high school have closer perception of HSPCC quantum than the teachers who work at vocational High school. In the research, it has been found out that for the components of HSPCC to determine the educational attainment teachers have holistic perception. However, High School teachers can be said not to agree with the participation of the students to the attainment determination process. Teachers agree that for the determination of educational attainment, participation of teachers of that school, principles and parents is necessary. Teachers think that the determined time is not enough for HSPCC educational attainment. With respect to content of HSPCC, teachers have closer perception to the subjective information understanding. During HSPCC process, teachers conduct more interactive, student centered and open to the debate Physics lesson. However teachers can not conduct a lesson to improve students' creativity and their constructivist abilities. Physics teachers who participated to the research use HSPCC assessment and evaluation pattern as the curriculum requires. In brief, physics teachers' having epistemologically holistic point of view has a positive effect on the application of HSPCC, because it can be said that during the development and application phase of a curriculum, epistemology is very important variation. On the other hand, it is known that every phase of the education is affected by both teachers and students' epistemological thoughts, belief and tendency. Therefore, MEB should take precaution and do some arrangement to improve the effectiveness of HSPCC in application through improving physics teachers' epistemological belief and knowledge. Key Words: High School Physics Curriculum, Epistemology, Newton Paradigm, Quantum Paradigm, Physics Teachers 'Opinion, Curriculum Evaluation.