The evaluation of the effectiveness of the learning environments based on gems approach in the mystery of earth's crust unit

The aim of this research was to study the effectiveness of a curriculum which is prepared by activities based on GEMS apporoach in a primary school. In this respect, a series of GEMS approach based activities were conducted regarding the outcomes of unit 'the Mystery of Earth's Crust in the new Science curriculum. The effect of activities conducted in a state school on the students scientific skills and conceptual development was investigated. The research tries to learn the students opinion on a curriculum which consists of activities based on GEMS approach. Research was conducted in state primary school in a district of Rize, in Çayeli in the second half of 2013-2014 academic year. The sample of the research was composed of fourth grade students from this primary school. For this one- month research, 13 students were chosen. In this study, a mixed design which consists of quantitative methods was used. As quantitative data collection tool scientific process skills test, for qualitative data collection, conceptual cognition test and interviews were used. Scientific proces skill test which was used as quantitative data resource was analyzed with Wilcoxon test using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 programme. While descriptive analysis was used for the conceptual cognition test, which is one of the qualitative data resources, content analysis was used for the analysis of the interviews. An increase was observed in students' conceptual cognition level and scientific process skills as a result of a curriculum based on GEMS approach. During the interviews, students stated that the activities were quite interesting, amusing, easy and understandable and also helped them to learn new data, had them rise desire to research. To conclude, a curriculum based on GEMS approach is effective in a rural primary school.