The effect of the technology and project-based learning approach supported thinking journey technique on the 11.th grade high school students? physics course achievement and academic self-concept

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate ?The Effect of the Technology and Project-Based Learning Approach Supported Thinking Journey Technique on The High School 11th Grade Students? Physics Course Achievement and Academic Self-Concept?. In this method, high school 11th grade students were invited into a thinking journey for eight weeks which included visual effects created with the help of various computer programs and required the development of projects related to the problem statement the students chose. In addition, the present study also investigated the degree of the relationship of the students? demographic backgrounds with their achievement (the subject of electric) and academic self-concept. The participants of the study were 68 11th grade students from two science classes (34 students from each class) at Nafiye-Ömer Şevki Cizrelioğlu High School in the Spring Term of the academic year of 2009-2010. The students in one of the classes constituted the experimental group, and those in the other class formed the control group. In this study, the Electric Achievement Test made up of 39 multiple choice questions prepared by the researcher to measure the students? knowledge about the subject of electric, the Likert-type Academic Self-Concept Scale including 45 items applied to determine the students? capacity regarding academic, the 6-item Personal Information Questionnaire applied to determine the students? demographic backgrounds, the 10-item Likert-type Individual Activities Evaluation Form applied for the students and the researcher as well as the teacher to evaluate students? performances, the 8-item Likert-type Group Activities Evaluation Form and a semi-structured interview form applied to determine the students? views about the process were used as the data collection tools. The applications lasted eight weeks. The subjects in the course of electric were taught via Technology and Project-Based Learning Approach Supported Thinking Journey Technique in the experimental group, while the subjects were taught via teacher-centered instructional methods and techniques in the control group. At the beginning and end of the study, the Electric Achievement Test and the Academic Self-Concept Scale were applied as pretest and posttest both to the experimental group students and to the control group students. In addition, at the end of the study, the individual and group performances of the experimental group students were evaluated by the students themselves as well as by the teacher and the researcher. Furthermore, at the end of the study, semi-structured interviews were held with the experimental group students to determine their views about the learning environment and the process. The data obtained in the study were analyzed via the techniques of dependent and independent groups t-test, Pearson correlation, anova test and descriptive statistics. The results revealed that there was no difference at the significance level of .05 between the Electric achievement pretest mean scores of the experimental group students and those of the control group students before the application with respect to the total scores and such sub-dimensions of Bloom?s taxonomy as knowledge, application and meta-cognition, (P>0.05). Following the experimental process, a significant difference at the significance level of 0.05 was found between the Electric achievement pretest and posttest mean scores of the control group students as a whole and with respect to such sub-dimensions of Bloom?s taxonomy as application and meta-cognition (P<0.05). In addition, it was also found out after the experimental process that there was a significant difference at the significance level of 0.05 between the Electric achievement pretest and posttest mean scores of the experimental group students with respect to such sub-dimensions of Bloom?s taxonomy as knowledge, comprehension, application and meta-cognition (P<0.05). When the groups were compared, a significant difference was revealed at the significance level of 0.05 between the Electric achievement pretest and posttest mean scores of the control group students and those of the experimental group students in favor of the experimental group with respect to such sub-dimensions of Bloom?s taxonomy. (P<0.05). Furthermore, in the present study, no significant difference was found between the academic self-concept pretest mean scores of the control group and experimental group students before the experimental process (P>0.05). At the end of the study, it was revealed that there was no significant difference between the Academic Self-Concept pretest and posttest mean scores of the control group students (P>0.05). However, when the Academic Self-Concept pretest and posttest mean scores of the experimental group students were examined, significant differences were found in the total mean scores and the mean scores regarding the sub-dimension of ?interest in science? in favor of the posttest scores (P<0.05). Similarly, when the academic self-concept posttest mean scores of the control group students and those of the experimental group students were compared, significant differences were found in the experimental group students? total posttest scores regarding Academic Self-Concept and interest in science in favor of the experimental group (P<0.05). In addition, it was also revealed that there were meaningfull relationships between the Electric Achievement and Academic Self-Concept posttest scores of the experimental group students and there were meaningfull differences between Electric Achievement and Academic Self-Concept posttest scores according to their demographic backgrounds. The analysis of the interviews held demonstrated that the experimental group students were satisfied with ?Technology and Project-Based Learning Approach Supported Thinking Journey Technique?. However, they reported that the current centrally-executed exam system makes it difficult to apply this learning approach and damages their psychology. Similarly, the experimental group students stated that they were not much satisfied with the learning environment at school for various reasons. Considering the fact that the experimental group students were more successful than the control group students, it is thought that it would be more useful to carry out student-centered instruction in the course of physics in secondary education schools by applying the project-based learning approach and the thinking journey technique ? in which the student is more active ? and by benefiting from computer facilities in in-class activities.Key words: Technology-Supported Education, Project-Based Learning Approach, Thinking Journey, Electric Achievement, Academic Self-Concept, Demographic Background, Student?s Views.