The effect of the use of concept maps on the academic success of secondary school students about sensory organs and their attitudes towards the lesson

In this study, the effect of the use of the concept map during science lessons on the subject of "Sensory Organs" of the 6th graders on the academic success of the students and their attitude towards the lesson was examined. The cognitive structures of the students and the data obtained as a result of the use of concept maps were associated and the result was reached by this means. The research was carried out with 13 experimental and 13 control group students studying in the 6th grades of Yazılar Secondary School in Mudurnu district of Bolu province in the 2022-2023 academic year. As the model of the research, the "pretest-posttest model with control group" was preferred among the experimental research models. In the control group, the lessons were carried out in compliance with the current curriculum, while in the experimental group, lessons were taught using concept maps in each session, apart from the curriculum. In the study, achievement test developed by the researcher and concept maps prepared by the researcher and students were used as data collection tools. The tests were applied in the form of one-to-one practice with each student. Using the data obtained, the scores of each student from the achievement test were recorded on the chart and scored. Scorings on the chart were analyzed with the spss program and the Mann independent sample t-test was employed to compare the pretest and posttest groups. With this test, it was analyzed whether the quantitative data had the same distributions between the two samples. As a result of the contents applied to two independent samples, the data obtained from the experimental group students who were taught the lessons with concept maps were analyzed with the content analysis method used in qualitative research. With this method, the quantitative studies of independent groups were examined in depth. According to the data obtained as a result of the research, no significant difference was detected between the average scores of the pretest achievement of the experimental and control groups, and a homogeneous scoring result was obtained from the groups. However, the post-test average success data applied to the experimental and control groups showed that there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group. According to the data obtained, while the use of technologically meaningful concept maps did not make a significant difference in the control group, it created a significant difference in terms of scope, substantiality and relevance in the experimental groups. The use of concept maps in the "sensory organs" course content has led our students to state that it is entertaining, instructive, determinative of misconceptions, eliminating semantic complexity and determinant of lack of knowledge. It was determined that the lessons with concept maps taught in the experimental groups had a positive effect on the cognitive, affective and academic structures of the students.