A study on the adaptation of the visible thinking approach to science teaching

The aim of this study is to adapt the thinking routines of the Visible Thinking Approach to the 5th grade 'Human and Environment' unit of Science course and to experience its applicability. With the lesson plans prepared for this purpose, it is aimed to activate and develop students' thinking skills and increase their interest in the environment. The study was conducted in a middle school in Pendik district of Istanbul province with 22 fifth grade students in the 2022-2023 academic year. Since the school consists of only male students, the entire research group consists of male students. The study was based on a qualitative case study. For the implementation of the thinking routines to the students, plans were prepared in the 5E model, which included the implementation of seventeen different thinking routines, fifteen of which consisted of different routines. These routines were adapted to the achievements of the Human and Environment Unit, Biodiversity, Human and Environment Relationship, Destructive Natural Phenomena subjects and used in the introduction, exploration, deepening and evaluation stages of the plans. In order to test the change in students' interest in the environment, the "Middle School Environmental Interest Scale" was applied as pre-test and post-test. The interest scale applied to the students was analyzed using the SPSS package program and it was seen that there was a significant difference in favor of the post-test. The data obtained from the application of thinking routines were analyzed by content analysis, students were interviewed in a focus group and their opinions were obtained and the data obtained were supported by the researcher's diary. As a result of the research, it was seen that the use of thinking routines in Science course was ideal. It was concluded that students participated more actively in the lesson, found the lesson fun and interesting, the routines helped to reveal prior knowledge, contributed to students' understanding of the subject and forced them to think.