The effect of material prepared with the Diagnostic Branched Tree technique in eliminating misconceptions about the World and the Universe in 4th grade Science and Technology course

In this study, it is aimed to reveal the effect of the material prepared in accordance with the Diagnostic Branched Tree technique on the misconceptions about the Earth and the Universe in the 4th Grade Science and Technology course in the Earth's Crust and Movements of Our World unit. This study was conducted in a public primary school in the Eyyübiye district of Şanlıurfa province, owned by the Ministry of National Education, during an eight-week period in the 2023-2024 academic year. The research was conducted with a total of 150 students at the 4th grade level. Within the scope of the study, a pre-test post-test control group design, which is one of the quasi-experimental designs, was used. During the research, the misconception test prepared by the researcher and the material created in accordance with the diagnostic branched tree technique developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The students were divided into 3 groups: experimental1 group (n=50), experimental2 group (n=50) and control group (n=50). During the application phase of the research, the misconception test was applied to all groups as a pre-test. While the control group studied the subject of the Earth and the Universe using the Current Teaching Method in accordance with the program created by the Ministry of National Education Board of Education and Discipline, the Experimental group students studied the subject of the Earth and the Universe with a worksheet created with the diagnostic branched tree technique, and the Experiment2 group studied the same subject with the worksheet created with the diagnostic branched tree technique. processed with the created material. The implementation of the research was completed in a period of eight weeks, and then the misconception test was re-applied to all groups simultaneously as a post-test. To compare the differences between the groups' pre-post test scores and misconception test scores, the Kruskall Wallis H Test and the Mann-Whitney U Test in the SPSS 27.0 program were applied. At the end of the study, when the scores of the students in the experimental and control groups were compared with the scores obtained from the pre-test, a significant difference was detected in the level of post-test misconceptions (p < 0.05). On the other hand, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the pre-post test misconception scores of the students in the experimental group (p>0.05). When the results of students' misconceptions were evaluated according to the gender variable, it was seen that the students' misconception levels did not differ significantly according to gender (p>0.05). As a result, it can be said that the material prepared with the diagnostic branched tree technique in teaching the subject of Earth and the Universe at the primary school level is more effective in reducing misconceptions than the worksheet created with the Current Teaching Method and the diagnostic branched tree technique.