The effect of inquiry based learning environment in science and technology course on the students? academic achivements, attitudes and retention level

In recent years, it has been observed that there have been changes and developments related to learning methods which are increasingly going on. Especially in the inquiries such as PISA and TIMSS by which the achievements of the countries in Science and Mathematics are exhibited in the international arena, it has been reported that Turkey has remained terribly behind for the averages of Science and Maths. Due to these developments, the workings of restructuring the primary education program has gained speed, lesson plans and programs have been disused which are permissive for the traditional learning environment in the education system. In the scope of executed changes, new methods and processes, in which the students are active in the learning environment and which enable the scientific concepts to be built as meaningful complements, have been handled. Inquiry based learning environment which gets involved in these processes has appeared as an issue which has been worked on frequently. Inquiry based learning environment could be described as learning environments constituted by active learning activities which enable the students to pursue a simple research by using science process skills. The searching which have been maintained by the educationalists for the purpose of turning the learning into a more meaningful situation for a long time begin to gain clarity. It has been pointed that the studies made in this field are mostly at the international level. The studies related to inquiry based learning environment are needed in which learning and teaching activities are going to be designed and analyzed the effects of them in our country, too. Especially in Science and Technology, a study has been carried out in this area by considering the powerful effect of the concept ?inquiry? on learning from the point of view of the individuals who are curious and trying to perceive their environment by using trial and error techniques. In this study, a series of activities at a basis of the strategy have been fulfilled which progress from guided inquiry to open inquiry in inquiry based learning environments. Especially, it has been investigated how to upgrade the retention level for academic achievement and science concepts and how to improve positive attitudes towards science. Semi-experimental design has been used in the study. In order to seek the effect of inquiry based learning approach, two of the classes constituted by the school management, except for random distribution, have been defined as experiment and control group. 72 students, studying at a state school in the city of Aydın, have formed the working group of the research. In the study, ?Academic Achievement Test? prepared by the researcher, has been used to determine the developments in the academic achievements of the students. In order to measure the attitudes towards science and technology,? Attitude Scale towards Science and Technology? prepared by Balım et al. (2009), has been exploited. Additionally, ?Semi-Structured Interview Form? also prepared by the researcher, has been used to determine the students? opinions about inquiry based learning environment and the process of making scientific research in a more detailed way. According to the findings of the study; the academic achievements and the attitudes of the students towards science and technology, who have been in the experiment group studying in inquiry based learning environment has displayed a difference in a significant way compared to those in control group studying in the environment to which 2005 Science and Technology curriculum has been applied. There has not been found a significant difference between retention levels of the students. As a result of interpreting the findings obtained from the research, it has been considered that using of the technics practiced in inquiry based learning environment in science and technology can be profitable for the academic achievements and developments of the attitudes of the students towards the course.