The effect of query based teaching practices on academic achievement and attitudes towards science in primary school fourth grade students' science course

In this study it has been aimed to investigate the effect of inquiry-based teaching practices on the academic achievement and attitudes towards science lesson at 4 th grade of primary school students. The question "Does the application of inquiry-based teaching method used in Science course have an effect on the academic success and attitudes of science in fourth grade?" has formed the problem of this study. The dependent variance of the research is the academic success of students and their attitudes towards science. The independent variance is the teaching methods applied. In this study "semi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group" has been to test the effectiveness of the inquiry-based teaching method in the Science lesson. Since there is an experimental study in the research, selection of the universe and sample hasn't been made, and the study group has been involved. The study group consists of 4 th grade students in two primary schools in the centre of Giresun province. In the research, by examining the academic achievement averages of the 4 th year students in the previous year and the pre-test equivalence one of them has been assigned as experiment group (n=50) and the other as a control group (n=50). The research has been carried out with the unit "Matter and its Nature" in the 4th grade science lesson curriculum of the 2019-2020 academic year for 6 weeks (18 lesson hours). The students that are taking place in the experimental group has been taught with activities prepared in accordance with the inquiry-based teaching method based on the stages of inquiry-based teaching method. Activities in the textbooks that are suitable for the Science education curriculum and include traditional method have been prepared and applied on students in the control group. Data collection tools "Academic Achievement Test" and "Science Attitude Scale" have been applied as a pre-test and post-test. The research has been tried to be supported qualitatively by applying open-ended questions to the students in both groups as pre-test and post-test. The data have been analyzed in IBM SPSS v24 (Statistical Package For The Social Sciences) package program. Kolmogorov Smirnov normality test has been applied to look at the distribution of normality of the groups since it is n> 30. Since the groups haven't showed normal distribution, the pretest and posttests have been analyzed and interpreted with the Mann Whitney U Test, and the relationship between the pretest-posttest scores of the groups have been analyzed with the Wılloxon Sıgned Order Test. According to the data obtained, there hasn't been any significant difference between the achievement tests and science attitude scores of the students in both groups before the application. At the end of the application there has been a significant difference in favor of the experimental group students in their attitude towards science. Accordingly, it has been concluded that inquiry-based teaching practices have been effective in increasing the academic achievement of the 4 th grade students of primary school in science lesson and in developing a positive attitude towards science. In line with the results obtained from this study it has been recommended that primary school teachers should be directed to use in-service trainings and seminars related to inquiry-based teaching method in science lesson to be ensured that they use this method effectively in science lessons by giving more place to the activities based on inquiry-based teaching method in Science lesson and by providing appropriate conditions and to be improved students' inquiry skills and the effectiveness of this method applied in different courses and researched. Keywords: inquiry, inquiry based teaching, academic success, attitude towards science.