The impact of project-based learning approach in visual arts course on the permanence and on the success & attitudes of the 6th grades secondary school students

One of the main objectives of visual art education is to establish an awareness on individuals about the process of development and change belonging to the society of which they are a member. By providing this awareness catching the change that the age has introduced is possible with both learners and teachers learning and teaching together, implementing team work successfully, educating visually literate individuals and creating a learning atmosphere through which carrying out educating teaching individuals who can solve problem. The aim of the this study is to investigate the effect of project-based learning approach in teaching the unit "Marbling" on the 6th grades in secondary school in terms of students academic success and retention of teaching and attitudes toward the course Visual Arts. The research was applied on a total of 57 students in the second half of the 2012-2013 academic year Celal Güzelses primary school of 6-A and 6-E. Classes are determined randomly, 6-A was assigned as the control group, 6-E was assigned as the experimental group. The experimental group students had the visual arts course with Project-based learning approach; students in the control group had the lesson with the traditional approach. In the research, pre-test and post-test control group experimental design method was used. In the research to assess the student's success, an achievement test was held at the beginning and at the end of the exercise. Also; to evaluate the student's attitudes toward the course visual arts, an attitude test was held before and after the exercise. However a significant difference was observed between the success scores of the control group which was applied the traditional teaching method and of the experimental group which was applied project-based teaching method, it wasn't observed that there was a remarkable difference between the attitudes of the students in both groups toward visual arts. The results of the research show that project-based learning approach in visual art education is effective in increasing achievement and retention. To this end, project-based learning approach is recommended to apply for giving the students the opportunity of learning by doing, providing them to participate in learning process actively and ensuring them to be creative and finding practical solutions to the problems they encounter. Keywords: Project-Based Learning, Visual Arts, Marbling, Learning.