The evaluation of the affect on student success and attitude of the subject which is Turkey's geopolitical positoon and regional problems via problem based learning technique

The purpose of this working is to compare problem-based learning approach and traditional teaching method in terms of academic achievements, problem-solving skills and attitudes towards geography of related students under the topic which is the Geopolitics and Regional Issues of Turkey.The samples of the working are 70 students in 12th class from Ankara Etimesgut High School.In this research, education classes in the same field which their information levels are close to each other were determined in order to specify the equality of the experimental and control groups. Problem-based learning method was applied to the experimental group students, traditional learning method was applied to the control group students. The application was executed in a total of 4 weeks in the second period of 2010-2011 school year. As a means of data collection; an achievement test, attitude scale of geography lesson and problem-solving inventory which is prepared under the subject which is the Geopolitics and Regional Issues of Turkey were used as pre- and post-test to the students. Analysis of data from the research were done with the help of SPSS 17 program. The variables used in the research showed a normal distribution (Appendix-7), that?s why parametric methods (Paired t-test, independent samples t-test) were used. The findings were interpreted in confidence interval of %95 and 0.05 significance level. The findings from the research showed that problem-based learning was more effective than traiditional approach in comprehension of concepts by the students in Geopolitics and Regional Issues of Turkey. And in terms of attitudes towards geography lesson and problem-solving skills of the students, a significant difference in favor of problem-based learning method was determined between the groups.