Effect of different teaching methods on academic achievement, attitudes towards science and environment in the human and environment relationship unit

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of interactive board usage and activity based instruction on students' academic achievement, and their attitudes towards science and environment. The study was carried out with the participation of 77 students who were attending to 5th class of Middle School in Pendik district of İstanbul province, 51 of whom were in experimental groups and 26 of were in control group in the second semester of 2017-2018 academic year. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group was employed, and one control and two experimental groups were used in the study. In the study, in control group (n = 26) only the activities that were present in the 5th class of science and technology curriculum, in experimental 1. group (n = 25) interactive board activities, and in experimental 2. group (n = 26) activity-based instruction were used. The study lasted in four weeks, four hours per week for each group. A 36-item Science Attitude Test (SAT), 32-item Attitude Towards Environment Scale (ATES), and 25 multiple-choice item Human and Environment Relationship Achivement Test (HERAT) developed by the researcher were applied as pre and post tests to all groups. Data analysis were performed using Kruskal Wallis test in multiple comparisons, Mann Whitney U test in comparison of two different groups, and Wilcoxon signed rank in comparisons of paired groups. According to the results obtained from the study, it has been found that interactive board usage and activity based instruction significantly increased students 'academic achievement and attitude towards science. Moreover, it was determined that the attitudes of students towards the environment did not change according to the teaching method applied.