The impact of teaching three-dimensional geometric shapes to middle school students with oil paintings and dynamic visuals on achievement and attitude

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of teaching the subject of three-dimensional geometric shapes to middle school fifth grade students with oil paintings and dynamic visuals on achievement and attitude. A quasi-experimental design, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The study sample consisted of 80 students (two experimental groups and a control group) studying in a middle school in the central district of Bolu province in the 2016-2017 academic year. "Geometry Achievement Test" and "Geometry Attitude Scale" were used for data collection. The data obtained in accordance with the purpose of the study were analyzed in IBM SPSS 21 and AMOS 22 package programs, and accordingly Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Repeated Measures ANCOVA were conducted. As a result of the study, a significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test scores of both experimental groups and the control group in terms of the variable of "achievement". It was seen that there was a significant in-group difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of both experimental groups and the control group in terms of the variable of "attitude" and there was no significant difference among the groups. On the other hand, it was observed that the mean achievement score of the experimental group-1, in which the oil paintings were supported with dynamic elements for teaching three-dimensional geometric shapes, was significantly higher than the mean achievement scores of both the experimental group-2 in which oil paintings were used alone and the control group in which the usual teaching was applied. While no significant difference was found between experimental group-1 and experimental group-2 in terms of the attitude variable, a significant difference was found between the attitude post-test mean scores of both experimental groups and the attitude post-test mean scores of the control group. Educational implications for the teaching of three-dimensional geometric objects and suggestions for future research were also included in the study.