The effect of non-class activities on secondary school students 'academic success and motivation for science learning

Outside classroom activities, such as science centers, botanical gardens, aquariums, planetariums, zoos, as well as many other out-of-school environments, are thought as complementary to the learning process. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of out-of-class activities in the school garden of the "Transmission of Electricity" unit of science course, on the academic achievement and science motivation of 6th grade students. The mixed method was used in the study. The study was carried out in the spring term of 2016/2017 academic year in a secondary school in Amasya province. A total of 49 sixth grade students, 22 experimental and 27 control groups, constituted the study group selected by the appropriate sampling method. The data of the study were obtained from the Electricity Conduction Unit Academic Achievement Test and Motivation Scale for Science Learning, developed by the researcher and consisted of 34 questions. Measurement tools were applied to both the experimental group and the control group as pretest at the start of the study. The selected unit was explained by the researcher to both groups as instructed by the curriculum, but only out-of-class activities that were previously prepared for the experimental group were applied additionally in the school yard in the last 20 minutes of the lesson according to the order of achievement. As a result of the study, the same measurement tools were applied to both groups as post-tests. In the analysis of quantitative data collected with academic achievement test and motivation scale for learning science, independent t-test and dependent t-test of arithmetic mean and standard deviation and parametric analysis methods were used. After applying the post-tests, 3 questions in the semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher were asked to 8 students randomly selected from the experimental group. The answers given to the questions were recorded by voice recording and the data obtained were analyzed by content analysis. As a result of the study, no significant difference was found between the academic achievement test applied to the experimental and control groups as a pre-test and the motivation scale pre-test scores for learning science. This situation showed that the experimental and control groups were equal before the study. According to the last test results; of the five sub-factors that make up the academic achievement test and the motivation scale for learning science of the experimental and control groups, the 1st factor is Motivation for Research, the 2nd factor is Performance Motivation, the 4th factor is the Motivation for Cooperative Work and the 5th factor Motivation towards the Participation, was determined that there was no significant difference between the posttest scores. In terms of motivation towards communication, which is the third factor of the motivation scale for learning science, a significant difference was obtained between the experimental and control group posttest scores. It is thought that the lack of significant difference between the scores of the experimental and control groups is due to the insufficient time for the implementation of out-of-class activities and the inconvenience of the school garden for teaching. However, as a result of the interview with the experimental group, it was concluded that the students' opinions about science lesson and out-of-class activities were positive. Keywords: Science Lesson, Outside Classroom Activity, Schoolyard, Academic Success and Motivation, Electricity Conduction