The effect of thematic learning on teaching power and movement to 6th grade students

The aim of the study is to examine the effect of thematic teaching application on the success in Science course in terms of teaching power and movement topic The sample of the study comprises of 59 6th grade students studying in Siirt. One class was assigned as an experimental group (N=30) and one as a control group (N=29). The study has been conducted on the topic "Power and Movement" in Science course on 6th grade students in 2015-2016 academic year fall semester. Before starting the experimental application, "Power and Movement Success Test" and personal information questionnaire have been applied to both groups. Besides, the scale of academic self-conception has been applied to experimental group in order to determine the interest and abilities of individuals. While teaching was conducted according to the National Education Science lesson program, thematic teaching approach was used for experimental group. At the end of application, the test of "Power and Movement Success" was carried out again as a last test for both groups by changing the order of the questions. Power and Movement Success Test was developed by the researcher to evaluate the success of students in Power and movement topic. Content validity of the test was provided with consideration to unit acquisitions Irrelevant T-test to determine whether the differences between the groups are meaningful or not, and relevant T-test to determine whether the differences within the groups are meaningful or not have been conducted. In the result of the research, it was observed that there is a meaningful difference between thematic teaching method and National Education Science lesson program in the success of the students in terms of the success in Power and Movement topic. With a collaboration among teachers from different groups, the topics in different courses can be associated. Key Words: Thematic teaching, Teaching Science, Power, Movement