Examination of science education according to the didactic transposition theory: The case of the force and motion unit

This study was conducted to examine the teaching process of the 6th grade Science course unit "Force and Motion" within the framework of Didactic Transposition Theory, with a particular focus on the dimension of internal didactic transposition. The research aims to reveal how the objectives specified in the curriculum, teachers' classroom practices, and students' learning outcomes interact and shape one another. In this regard, both the structural characteristics of the teaching process and the effects of these processes on students' conceptual understanding were analyzed using a multidimensional data set. The study was conducted during the 2022–2023 academic year with a total of 62 students and three science teachers at a middle school located in the city center of Nevşehir, Türkiye. The research employed a concurrent mixed-methods design. Quantitative data were collected through the Learning Achievement Test (LAT) for the "Force and Motion" unit and written examinations. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values), dependent t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data, and the results were additionally visualized through graphs. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured classroom observations and teacher interviews, and analyzed using the descriptive analysis method. Quantitative findings were presented based on test scores and sub-dimension analyses, while qualitative findings were derived from themes that emerged from observations and interviews. In the analysis process, quantitative and qualitative findings were initially evaluated within their own thematic structures and subsequently integrated into a comparative and holistic framework. The findings revealed that teachers' content knowledge levels, the diversity of representations they employed, and their modeling strategies had a direct impact on students' conceptual understanding and problem-solving approaches. During the course, particularly in classes where the integration of mathematics and science (graph interpretation, unit conversion, etc.) was systematically emphasised, a significant difference in written examination scores was observed in both the Force and Speed sub-dimensions. In contrast, in lessons where representation diversity was limited, the balance between experiments and problem-solving was not maintained, and student participation was low, shortcomings in conceptual understanding and a decrease in the quality of learning were observed. Qualitative results indicated that the teaching strategies used by teachers during internal didactic transposition, their level of consideration of students' prior knowledge, their ability to relate content to real-life contexts, and the nature of classroom interactions played a decisive role in student achievement. In conclusion, the quality of the internal didactic transposition process is a critical factor not only for student achievement but also for students' scientific thinking and conceptual integration skills. This study emphasizes that enhancing teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, representation and modeling strategies, and classroom interaction competencies is essential for improving the quality of science education. The findings are expected to contribute both theoretically and practically to the development of science curricula, the enrichment of teacher education programs, and the improvement of the quality of classroom practices.