The effect of game and activity based teaching method on 6th grade students' academic achievement, attitude towards education of Religion and Ethics course and acquiring prayer habits

6th grade students' attitudes towards Religious Culture and Ethics course, academic achievement and the way the course is taught are of great importance in the placement of prayer worship in daily life. In particular, fun and student-centred education methods that attract student interest, which are used outside of traditional methods, allow students to be more successful in the Religious Culture and Ethics course. Game and activity-based teaching method is one of the educational methods that positively affect students' attitudes towards Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge course, increase their academic success and ensure the implementation of worship in daily life. For these reasons, game and activity based teaching method is included in our study. This study aims to increase the academic achievement of 6th grade students of Kozcağız Imam Hatip Secondary School in the subject of prayer, to develop positive attitudes towards the course and to help students acquire the habit of praying. In this direction, the research has a mixed methodology including quasiexperimental method, statistical analysis and semi-structured research methods. The experimental group, which consisted of 40 students in total, was formed by purposive sampling method and the subject of prayer was taught with the game and activity-based method, while the traditional teaching method was applied to the control group. These students were given pre-test, post-test and retention test. Pre-test and post-test were carried out with Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Course Attitude Scale. In addition, 6 students were subjected to pre-interview before the application and post-interview after the application. According to the findings obtained from the research results, there was an increase in the academic achievement of the experimental group students in whom game and activity based teaching method was applied and an increase in positive attitude towards Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge course. At the end of the interview method with 6 students, there were positive developments in the prayer behaviour of the students. 83,3% of the students acquired the habit of prayer.