Application levels of constructivist learning theory by secondary school teachers

Constructivism, which took its place in the literature in the early 60's and has become more significant especially in developmental and cognitive psychology fields since then, is an approach in which students constitute their own realities or interpret the meaning based on their own experiences and perceptions. In our country, constructivist learning theory took its place in our national educational system in 2004 with rearranged primary education program of Ministry of Education. Since 2005, the teachers who work in our country have been expected to apply constructivist teaching programs to their lessons. Preparation of new teaching programs by utilization of constructivist approach principles points out that the changes have begun in our national educational system. However, effectiveness of these changes depends on teachers' implementations. In constructivist learning theory, teacher, who is the leader of teaching and learning processes in the class, is the one who organizes the learning environment and plans assessment processes. The role of the teacher in constructivist approach is not giving information, but leading students to add new information on previous information. The aim of research was to determine implementation levels of constructivist theory by secondary school teachers. In this study, observational method was used to examine implementation levels of constructivist teaching methods in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades by teachers (1 Turkish Language, 2 Social Sciences, 1 English Language, 1 Science and 1 Mathematics) who worked in Gaziosmanpasa Secondary School, which was in Besiktas, İstanbul. The obtained data included 12 hours of video records of 6 teacher in 2013-2014 academic year at different dates and classes. In this study, an observation form, which was prepared by researchers, was used and data were analyzed by content analysis method. Findings of the study revealed the teachers' capabilities in keeping the students' interests alive, encouraging learners to investigate and participate by asking open-ended questions, and guiding students sufficiently through discovering information. However, it was seen that teachers were inadequate in encouraging students to participate in group activities and work cooperatively. It was also seen that teachers didn't use information technologies to improve students' knowledge and skills, and ask questions to evaluate their prior knowledge. It was seen that students weren't able to transfer and prove their ideas to the class more than the teacher and work in cooperation sufficiently. When given the opportunity, students were observed to be able to explain subjects and concepts by using their own knowledge, establish cause-effect relationships, and communicate with other students and the teacher. In terms of learning environments, it was seen that lessons were related to other chapters, subjects and fields, real-life examples were given, and multiple teaching methods and techniques were used. However, it was observed that teachers didn't follow up different resources other than course books and use audio-visual equipment adequately. It was observed that students weren't given opportunity to evaluate each other or to make self-assessment, and portfolios, which are the collection of students' practices and exercises, weren't used. However, applications of different measurement and evaluation techniques by teachers were observed. It is revealed that teachers are more likely to use old teaching methods. The necessity of transforming learning environments in terms of equipment is clearly emerging. Number of students in classroom and allocation of enough time for learning programs also affect the applicability of constructivist learning theory. The findings of the study, which indicate the difficulty of transition from traditional teaching models to the constructivist learning environments, suggest that teachers need to give priority to the activities which include task sharing and require cooperation. Key Words: Constructivist, Teacher, Observational.