A Curriculum design for "temperature and heat" at grade 9 of high school physics

ABSTRACT This study aims to develop a curriculum design for the topic of "Temperature and Heat" for the 9th Grade high school physics lessons and evaluation of the developed program. In order to achieve this, the contents, objectives and behavioral objectives were developed based on the curriculum development principles. Afterwards, appropiate learning activities were determined to achieve objectives and behavioral objectives. Pretest-posttest control group approach was employed as the model of the research. A control group containing 29 students and an experimental group with 29 students, at 9th Grade, Şirinyer High School in İzmir were selected randomly, for evaluating the developed curriculum design. The developed curriculum design to the experimental group and the traditional teaching program were, simultaneously, applied to the control group. The data obtained by means of pre and post achievement tests was analysed, by using SPSS 8.0 for WINDOWS statistical program, specifically t test. The data obtained by pre and post physics attitude tests were analyzed by employing t test. Accoarding to the achievement test results, the experimental group, to whom the developed curriculum design was applied, was found to be more successful than the control group. Examining the answers which was given for the pre and post-tests, students' beliefs before the instruction and remaining beliefs after the instruction were determined. In the light of the obtained results, some tips and methods for a better instruction of temperature and heat unit were recommonded.