Investigation of the effect of Education Information Network (EBA) and experiment supported activities on the teaching of the 7th grade electrical circuits unit and students' opinions

This study aimed to investigate the effect of using EBA and experiment in teaching 7th grade electrical circuits unit on the students' academic achievement and their attitudes towards science lesson. The study was conducted with 73 students studying in a state secondary school in Daday town of Kastamonu, Turkey in the second semester of 2018-2019 academic year. There were randomly selected 25 students in experiment-1, 25 students in experiment-2, and 23 students in control group. In this study, mixed-research design including qualitative and quantitative research designs were used together. In order to identify the effect of Education Information Network (EBA) and experiment-supported teaching on the students' academic achievement and their attitudes towards science lesson, quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group was employed. In order to obtain the opinions of the students in experiment-2 group regarding EBA and experiment supported teaching, semi-structured interview was employed among qualitative research methods. For 3 weeks, the lessons were conducted as EBA-supported in experiment-1, in experiment-2 group the lessons were conducted as EBA and experiment-supported, in control group the lessons were conducted according to the available curriculum. In order to collect quantitative data, Electrical Circuits Unit Achievement Test (ECUAT) and Science Course Attitude Scale (SCAS) was applied with experiment-1, experiment-2 and control groups both before and after the research. In order to collect qualitative data after the intervention, Semi-Structured Interview Form (SSIF) was conducted with 6 students from experiment-2 group by selecting 2 students from from low-moderate-high achievement levels each according to ECUAT results. Quantitative results were analyzed by SPSS statistics program. Dependent t-test, independent t-test and ANOVA were employed in order to identify the significance of the difference between pre-test post-test achievement scores and attitude scale results obtained from experiment-1, experiment-2 and control groups. According to the data analysis results, when academic achievement and attitudes towards science lesson of the students in experiment-2 group, in which EBA and experiment supported lessons were conducted, was compared to the other two groups, a significant difference was found only in. In other words, when EBA-supported education is used alone, it increases the students'academic achievement and attitude a little, but when it is supported by experiments besides EBA activities, it has been found that students' academic achievement and attitude towards science lesson have a significant effect. As a result of data analysis, interview forms applied to experiment-2, in which EBA and experiment-supported lessons were conducted, were analyzed through content analysis. According to the results obtained, it was found that most of the activities in EBA were not opened during the lesson and at home, the activities in EBA were complicated and the content was insufficient, experiment activities were fun and experiment activities were more stable as the students engage with them actively. In this study, EBA and experiment were used together in the teaching of the subject of The ECU, and an increase in students' academic achievement and attitudes towards science lesson has been determined. Therefore, teachers are recommended to use the experiment in addition to EBA support in the teaching of subjects in science class. KEYWORDS: Education information network, experiment, academic achievement, attitude, students' opinion, electrical circuits