The effect of project based learning on success and attitude in the unit ? living things and life? at the grade 5th

The main aim of this research is to examine the effects of project based learning on the achievement and the attitude of the students of 5th grade. The gap between the first success of the students and the success which was obtained later on were researched.The experimental group consisted of 86 fifth grade students studying in a public school which is at a normal rate on the social and economical level in the spring semester of 2007-2008 academic year in İzmir. The experimental work was completed in 9 weeks time in 2007-2008 academic year.In this research experimental design with pre and post-test groups were used. The teaching of science was done by means of the project based learning which occured in the experimental group. The traditional teaching methods were done in the control group.In this research the data collection methods were Personal Information Form, Science Achievement Test, Attitude Towards Project Based Learing, Interview(semi-structured) About Project Based Learning.The results have been analyzed with SPSS 11.0 program. The data was evaluated by applying arithmetic mean, standard deviation, t-test. The interview records were coded by calculated frequency and percentage after coded.The results have shown that group of experiment was more successful than the group of control. Project based learning was more effective than traditional education.At the end of the research there can be seen a positive difference on the side of the students which effectively studied project based learning (experimental group) between the ones who studied it in traditional teaching methods (control group). Under the lights of the results the offers are presented.Key Words: Project Based Learning, Science Teaching, Attitude, Success