The effects of the multimedia supported problem based learning on 8th grade students in relation to academic success, attitude and permanence: The subject of pressure

The main purpose of this study is to examine the efficiency of "Multimedia supported Problem Based Learning" in science education. In this respect, it is aimed to examine the effects of the "Multimedia Supported Problem-based Learning " as for "The Subject of Pressure" in science and technology lesson on the 8th grade students' academic success, attitude towards the lesson, attitude towards the problem solving and permanence of the learning. The research has been conducted by using quasi-experimental design in which the control group has been examined through pre-test and post-test. The study group consists of 40 students who were in the 8th grade at a secondary school in Taşova, Amasya in 2014-2015 academic year. "The Subject of Pressure" has been studied in control group (N=20) through the traditional approach and in the experimental group (N=20) through the "Multimedia Supported Problem-based Learning" approach. The lessons have been conducted for two and a half weeks (10 hours) by the researcher. The data were collected with "The Test of Academic Success on the Subject of Pressure", "The Scale of the Attitude Towards Science and Technology Lesson" and "The Scale of the Attitude Towards Problem Solving". The collected data has been analyzed by an appropriate statistical program. In the process of data analysis the arithmetic mean and standard deviation have been taken advantage of beside "Shapiro-Wilks Test", "Paired Samples t-Test", "Indepented Samples t-Test", "Wilcoxon Test" and "Man Whitney U Test". Through this study, it is concluded that "Multimedia Supported Problem-based Learning" approach and traditional approach increase the academic success to a certain extend in Science and Technology lesson. Furthermore, it is found out that "Multimedia Supported Problem-based Learning" approach is significantly more successful than traditional approach in relation to the academic success. It was also found that traditional approach does not have a significant effect on the attitude towards science and technology lesson or attitude towards the problem solving. On the other hand, "Multimedia Supported Problem-based Learning" approach has significant effect on students' attitude towards science and technology lesson and the attitude towards problem solving. Moreover, it was explored that, "Multimedia Supported Problem-based Learning" is more successful than the traditional approach in concern with the permanence of learning. However, the difference was not statistical significant.