Effects of systematic learning on academic achievement and attitude in multigrade class schools

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of systematic learning on academic achievements and attitudes of students in multigrade students. Experimental research design with pre-post tests and control group is utilized for the study. The study is conducted in 2010-2011 academic year with 48 students studying in two elementary schools with similar socio-economical levels, namely Kalecik elementary school and Kulundere elementary school in the Karakoçan county of Elazığ province. The study took total of 8 weeks with 3 weeks being preparation. In the study, a lesson plan for life studies course `dreams coming true? unit prepared according to the systematic learning method is implemented to the experimental group and a lesson plan prepared on the same unit according to the current curriculum is implemented to the control group. An academic achievement test along with an attitude test is applied to whole working group before and after the study. The measurement tool is composed of 25 items. Cronbach Alpha reliability constant for the test is found to be 0,81. Data collected with the study are analyzed with dependent and independent groups t-test and chi-square statistical techniques.Interpretation of the study results revealed that a statistically meaningful difference found between achievement pre-post test mean scores of experimental group where the systematic learning is applied, whereas no statistically meaningful difference found between achievement pre-post test mean scores of the control group where current curriculum is applied. No statistically meaningful difference found between the experimental and control groups pre-post attitude test results. This finding indicates that the attitudes of the experimental and control groups towards the course are equivalent. Interpretation of the post test results of the experimental and control groups revealed meaningful difference in favor of the experimental group. This finding indicates that systematic learning is more effective than the current curriculum. Examining post test attitude results of the experimental and control groups, there is no meaningful difference between the two; however, attitude mean scores of the control group observed to be slightly higher than attitude mean scores of the experimental group.Key Words: Multigrade Class, Systematic Learning, Academic Achievement, Attitude