Effectiveness of out-of-school learning setting aided teaching of the 5th grade let's solve the riddle of our body chapter

Today, it is widely accepted that the teaching should be conducted in environments that are as close as possible to the real context in order to train individuals who can read and comprehend, use the learned knowledge in their lives, produce, and catch up with the developments. This situation means that education given only within the school walls can't fulfill the goals of education. Thus, out-of-school learning environments are needed today. The purpose of this research is to develop a guidance material that science teachers can use in their lessons in out-of-school settings according to the 5th Grade "Let's Solve the Riddle of Our Body" chapter goals of the Science course curriculum revised in 2013 and to determine its effectiveness. One of the mixed methods designs, embedded design was used in this study using quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously. The quantitative part of the research was carried out according to the pre-test/ post-test equalized control group design, which is one of the quasi-experimental designs. Phenomenology was used in the qualitative part of the study. The sample of this study was composed of a total of 31 5th grade students that were selected from 2 secondary schools in the first semester of the 2015-2016 academic year in Tokat Province. First of all, the courses that would be conducted in out-of-school settings were designed and a guidance material was developed. Let's Solve the Riddle of Our Body Chapter Achievement Test was developed and conducted in order to measure the students' achievements and retention before and after the implementation of the guidance material. Moreover, the question sheets that would be answered by the students before and after the excursion were prepared. Fifth Grade Science and Technology Course Attitude Scale, which was developed by Yaşar and Anagün (2008) was used as the pre and post-test in order to measure the 5th graders attitudes towards science course. The interview questions that would be asked to the students after the excursion in order to examine the effectiveness deeply were prepared and semi-structured interviews were conducted thereafter. Independent samples t-test and covariance analysis (ANCOVA) were used in order to analyze the quantitative data. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing the qualitative data. As a result of the analyses, it was found that the experimental group had significantly higher scores from Let's Solve the Riddle of Our Body Chapter Achievement Test post-test when compared with the control group. In this direction, it was concluded that out-of-school learning settings positively contributed to the academic achievement and the guidance material was effective. According to retention test analyses, no significant difference between experiment and control groups in terms of post-test and retention test was determined. Let's Solve the Riddle of Our Body Chapter Achievement Test retention test results showed that students in experiment group had higher scores than the students in control group. As a result of the analyses of the answers given to the questions before and after going to the out-of-school setting, it was found that learning occurred in out-of-school setting; students get conscious about profession and career; and they learned about novel concepts, events, and professions. When the ANCOVA results related to Fifth Grade Science and Technology Course Attitude Scale were examined, it was found that there wasn't significant difference between experiment and control groups. As a result of the interviews conducted with the experimental group after the excursions, it was determined that the students had permanent learnings by having fun in out-of-school settings; socialized with their peers by enjoying common activities; learned about novel concepts and professions; and used what they learned in out-of-school settings in their life. As a result of the study, guidance materials for different courses, chapters, and topics are suggested to be developed. Additionally, some recommendations for future studies and researchers were made based on the findings of this study.