The effect of the understanding by design model on academic success and permanence in 6th grade science course

This research aims to examine the effect of the application of the Understanding by Design (UbD) model in science teaching on academic achievement and permanence and evaluate the UbD applications according to students' opinions. A mixed research method, in which qualitative and quantitative research methods are used together, was used. The research study group consists of 27 sixth-grade students studying at a public school in Gaziantep. In the quantitative dimension of the research, pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was applied. As a data collection tool in the research, the "Science Achievement Test" was applied as the pre-test, post-test and retention test. In order to collect the qualitative data of the research, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher was used. The research was carried out with an experimental group and a control group. In the experimental group, the "Sound and Its Properties " unit was taught with the UbD model, and in the control group, the same unit was studied for five weeks, adhering to the routine practice. The first two weeks of the applications were carried out face-to-face, and the next three weeks were carried out by distance education. After the experimental procedure, Mann-Whitney U was used in the analysis of the scores obtained from the post-test applied to the groups, and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used in the analysis of the pre-test and post-test success scores of each group. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis technique. As a result of the research, it was seen that there was a significant difference between the post-test achievement scores of the experimental and control groups. In addition, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the post-test scores of the experimental group and the permanence test scores. The results of the research showed that the science teaching designed with UbD positively affected the academic achievement of the students and the permanence of learning. This result also coincides with the results obtained from the qualitative dimension of the research. Interviewed students find the UbD model useful in science teaching and think that the model provides permanent learning with activities and experiments.