The effect of context and problem based instruction on the students'achievements, attitudes, motivations and problem solving skiils in biology course

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of context - and problem-based instruction (CPBL) on students' achievements, attitudes, motivations and problem-solving skills in biology course. The study was employed pre-test and post-test experiment-control group quasi-experimental design. The sample included in totally 106 11th graders from a secondary school in center of Erzurum. The subjects were taught to the students using the method suggested curriculum in control group and CPBL in experimental group. The data were collected with (a) Digestive System Achievement Test (DSAT), (b) Circulatory System Achievement Test (CSAT), (c) Problem Based Learning Sheet Assesment Scale (PBLSAS), (d) Attitude Scale towards Biology Course (ASBC), (e) Motivation Scale towards Biology Course (MSBC), (f) Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) and (g) Semi-Structured Interview Form (SSIF). The data were analyzed through dependent and independent-samples t-test, MannWhitney U test, one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test and descriptive statistics. According the findings from DSAT, it was seen that there was no a statistically significant difference between students' post-test scores. However, the findings from CSAT indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between groups in favor of experimental group. The findings also indicated despite the fact that the attitude, motivation and problem-solving skills level of both experimental group and control group were high before and after treatment, there was no statistically significant difference between groups. However, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the cooperative groups in terms of the PBLSAS scores of the problem-based learning sheets used in the teaching of the Digestive System unit, and there was a significant difference between the groups in teaching the Circulatory System unit. On the other hand, semi-structured interviews with the students were determined that the students stated some disadvantages of CPBL despite the fact that they generally had positive opinion about CPBL. Key Words: Context-and Problem-based learning, Biology teaching, Academic achievement, Attitude, Motivation, Problem-solving skills.