Investigating teachers', students' and parents' opinions on the third graders' science curriculum

In this study, it is aimed to reveal the classroom teachers', students' and parents' opinions on the third graders' science curriculum. In addition, the problems occurring during the application of the third graders' science curriculum, which began in 2014, were examined based upon teachers', students' and parents' views. 25 classroom teachers, 586 third graders and 15 parents from 5 randomly selected schools located in Bayrampaşa and Gazisomanpaşa districts in Istanbul Province which were selected via convenience sampling method during 2016-2017 academic year constituted the study group in the study. A 47-item questionnaire composed of questions regarding the objectives of the third graders' science curriculum, its content, instructional process and measurement-assessment dimensions was applied to the teachers in the study to obtain data. The students were applied a 26-item questionnaire in parallel to the objectives of the science lessons and a 5-question semi-structural interview was used for the parents. The study was designed in the survey model and descriptive analysis method was used. The data obtained from the teachers in the study were analyzed through calculating frequency, percentage and arithmetical mean, and the data gathered from the student questionnaires were analyzed via using frequency and percentage. As for the data from the semi-structured interviews, they were analyzed using content analysis and the answers given by the parents were coded. Using these codes, some themes were created. Qualitative and quantitative data obtained in the study were evaluated altogether. According to the results of the study, the teachers averagely "agreed" in the questionnaire regarding the dimensions of objectives (X=4,04), content (X=3,90) and measurement and assessment (X=3,41). The teachers averagely stated they "neither agreed nor disagreed" (X=3,40) about the dimension of instructional process. Based on the data obtained from the student questionnaires, it was revealed 95% of the students were interested in the science lessons and they expressed positive views. The parents stated in the interviews that they thought it was convenient for the students to have science lessons in the third grade of the primary school. Moreover, it was revealed in the interviews with the parents that there were problems since no experiment was made, there was no laboratory in the schools, the students had trouble in understanding lessons, and also there was a lack of equipment.