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Alternatif Dilde Özet:
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The national policy in 2004 aimed to develop the curriculum in Science andTechnology classes and to keep up with the change sand progress happening. Given the developed curriculum of Science andTechnology, it can be seen that the constructivist learning theory was adopted (Gömleksiz & Bulut, 2005).
Students in the fourth grade the first encounter with the curriculum of Science and Technology. In this regard, students learn the concepts of the fourth grade program correct and complete construction is extremely important the correct the construction of science concepts in their minds. In this context, the new curriculum is based on science and technology skills and knowledge required by the constructivist approach is of great importance for fourth grade teachers. Therefore, based on the constructivist approach teachers teaching methods and techniques are required to have sufficient knowledge and skills to practice (Gömleksiz & Bulut, 2005).
The constructivist philosophy recommends the radical changes related to the arrangement of the class and realization of the education. However, the studies showed that the constructivist approach present in the curriculum was not administered in the clasroom environment, and that the teaching was maintained through teacher-centric applications. (Bozyılmaz& Bağcı-Kılıç, 2005; Saylan & Yurdakul, 2005; Yaşar, Gültekin, Türkkan, Yıldız, & Girmen, 2005). Correspondingly, Anagün, Yalçınoğluand Ersoy (2012) found that only one-third of the fiften ones adopted the constructivist approach but only two of them put the approach in to practice.
This study aimed to describe the present situation and the problems encountered in terms of the objectives, activities and assessment based on the constructivist approach in science and technology classes in the fourth grades. The findings obtained are thought to shedlight on curriculum development.
The methodology of this study is descriptive. The classes related were observed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers and the students selected. The sampling was composed of two groups. The former consisted of the three teachers teaching the fourth grade, and 9 students through random sampling from each teacher’s class were chosen. In addition to the observation and semi-structured interviews, the written exams, performance tasks and student notebooks were also used in the study. The content analysis of the data collected was performed.
The findings related to the first research question of the study showed that when the objectives, activites and assessment dimensions were analyzed, the objectives such as explanation, noticing, making a relation, inference were applied in the class, whereas no task related to the experiments, the indispensable part of the constructivist approach, was not administered in the class.
The results from the interviews showed some differences. One of the teachers teaching the students with question-answer approach approved of the constructivist approach, whereas the other two teachers stated that the tasks were above the students’ level and there existed insufficient quantities of materials and the time allocated for these activities were inadequate.
The second research question of the study was to elicit what the students experienced, felt and thought during Science and Technology lesson. The results showed that the students came to the class prepared with the warning of the teachers, and generally the same students were actively participative in the class. Besides, the students tended to answer the question synchronically.
The interviews with the students showed that they prepared for the lesson by reading the unit related to the subject. The possible reasons for this tendency could stem from the fact that the students come from a low socioeconomic background and the resources they could reach are hardly facilitated and that most of these families did not own computers or internet connections.
The analysis suggested that the task of preparing and conducting experiments that existed in the curriculum was not applied in the classroom environments and also showed that the tasks included in the curriculum were not effectively and efficiently administered, whereas interactive tasks were used in the classroom environment. In addition to these findings, the assessment dimension in the curriculum was concluded to be the weakest component in the classroom environment.. The teachers had trouble using the constructivist approach owing to the low level of the students who did not complain about this situation at all.
This case;
• It is necessary to raise teachers’ attention related to the constructivist teaching process and their interest in process-based assessment. In addition, it is essential to plan in-service training and administer these activities effectively in order to increase their proficiency.
• While preparing the program objectives, local differences as well as socioeconomic backgrounds should be taken into consideration. If necessary, region-sensitive curriculum should be prepared.
• An example of a performance task and a project homework should be included in each unit inasmuch as these two tasks were not contained in the books.
• This study was performed with qualitative methods in the science and technology class in the fourth grades. This study can be carried out different lessons, different class levels and different samples.
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