The effects of modeling based science and technology teaching on understanding, memorization, creativity and mental models of primary school students

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of modeling based teaching methodology, applied to ?Material and Heat? unit of the Science and Technology course, on understanding, memorization levels, creativity and mental models of the sixth grade primary school students. This research was conducted using total of 58 sixth grade students, registered to A and B sections of a primary school in Istanbul, for a ten-week period in the second semester of academic year 2011?2012. Section B was randomly chosen as a test group. The mixed approach was applied in the research. For the quantitative component of the approach, group controlled pre test?post test quasi-experimental set up and for the qualitative component, the phenomenal set up were used. On the test group, Halloun?s five step modeling cycle of the modeling based teaching methodology and on the control group, 5E model of the constructive approach were applied. Material and Heat Unit Understanding Test and Mental Model Related Interview Form that were developed by the researcher and Torrance Creativity Test (Forms A-B) were used as data collection tools in the study. Evaluations of the collected quantitative data were performed using single-factor covariance analyses (ANCOVA) and the qualitative data were descriptively evaluated according to the phenomenal set up. The results indicate that there is no difference between the test group and the control group in regard to understanding and memorization but creativity levels of the test group students are determined to be higher. The qualitative dimension of the research results suggest that the modeling based teaching methodology positively effects the mental models of students. Key Words: Modeling, understanding, memorization, creativity, mental model