The effect of inquiry learning strategies on students? skills of inquiry learning, academic success and attitudes

Technological developments and scientific inventions have resulted in societies? increasing interest in education of society members. Especially, in science education, teaching approaches that make members be able to question, think critically, produce alternative solutions to problems and get the knowledge by using technology gained an observable significance. Considering this goal, science educational programs have been revised; student- centered and discovery learning strategies have much been considered. As a result, inquiry learning which is based on constructivism has gained importance. New approaches to sience education have derived from questioning and students? own discovery of relevant knowledge.The aim of research is to find out the effect of Science and Technology course that is carried out by using inquiry learning strategies on students? inquiry learning skills, academic success and attitude toward the lesson. The question, ?What are the effects of using inquiry learning strategies for ?What If There Was No Pressure? unit on students? inquiry learning skills, academic success and attitudes?? is the main question of the study. The dependent variables of this research are students? academic success, inquiry learning skills and attitude toward Science and Technology course. The independent variable is the learning strategies.In this research that examines the role of inquiry learning strategies in science and technology teaching, semi-experimental design with `pre-test?- `post-test?control group is used. As research is an experimental one, population and examplification techniques wasn?t choosen; study group is selected. Study group includes 7th grade students of Canlı 60. Yıl primary school in Izmir, Bayındır. In this research, considering average academic success in th previous year and pre test equality, 7-A class is used as experimental group and 7-B class as control group. Experimental group (n=18) and control (n=18) group include 36 students. This study is carried out during 7 weeks (21 class hours) and based on the unit ?What If There Was No Pressure??. Students in experiment group were taught by using experiments and application activities relevant to inquiry learning strategies and 5E learning model. Activities are prepared in a way which makes students? questioning abilities develop by asking, suggesting solutions, developing experiments for the result and application.On the other hand, lesson plans are structured according to 5E learning model for students in control group and their activities are prepared and implemented according to textbooks which are paralel to curriculum of the course. ?Academic Success Test? ? Measure for Inquiry Learning Skills Toward Science? ?Measure for Attitude Toward Science? pre test and post test are applied in order to collect relevant outcome. While applying post test for each students of both groups, open ended questions which was prepared as half ? structured interview questions are given to 9 students in the experiment group. According to the outcome, there are no outstanding differences between both groups? students? academic success test, inquiry learning skills and attitude toward science marks before the application. Whereas, there occured a meaningful difference that is in the favour of experiment group, according to success test, inquiry learning realization level and result of open ended questions. However, there are no changes in attitude toward science. The result of interviews with experiment group students on the effectiveness of application supported the effectiveness of inquiry learning strategies.In the light of the findings of the research, it is suggested that Science and Technology instructors should be given lectures on recent approaches and strategies, students should use science laboratories in groups, there should be enough number and amount of laboratory equipments and students should be made to take any easy to find materials that are not present in labratory in time, there should be activities which depend on Inquiry Learning strategies in 2005 Science and Technology course books and teachers should select their examples from daily life. Besides, in this study, primary 7th grade students? academic success, inquiry learning abilities and attitudes toward science course under the unit ? What if there was no pressure??. In the future this approach can be implemented to different science units or different subject matters such as Turkish, English, Maths etc. Whatsmore, the effest of inqiry learning strategies on problem solving skills, critical thinking skills or creativity in science and their relationship with the students? questioning skills can be examined as well.Key Words: Constructivist Approach, Inquiry Learning Strategies, Inquiry Learning Skills, Academic Success, Attitude Toward Science.