Bilimsel Hikayelerle Desteklenen Fen Eğitiminin Öğrencilerin Yaratıcılıkları ve Duyuşsal Özellikleri Üzerindeki Etkileri

Abstract

From very early ages, people try to make sense of the world around them through their own curiosity. The way to understand the natural world and to find solutions to real-life problems is through effective science education. Current science education reforms and standards acknowledge the importance of students’ active engagement in science learning. Students are expected to be curious, creative, critical thinkers, self-directed in their learning, able to investigate science concepts and problems by themselves. The way to achieve this is to provide students with learning environments which stimulate interest and curiosity, encourage them to use their own imagination and creativity, and foster students’ active engagement in science learning process. There is a need to create and sustain learning environments which provide opportunities for students to express their ideas confidently, to engage in their own learning and develop themselves in many aspects. Scientific stories created by blending with the stories that students are familiar with can be used as teaching materials to create these learning opportunities and ultimately, cultivate students’ creativity and attitude toward science. In the present study, the effect of integration of scientific stories into science lessons on elementary students’ creativity and attitudes toward the science course were investigated. In this study, the convergent parallel mixed method research design consisting of both quantitative and qualitative research was employed. The participants were 36 elementary students enrolled in a public school in Cankaya, Ankara during Spring 2016 semester. Students were assigned to the experimental group (N=18) and the control group (N=18). Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews and an open-ended questionnaire to gain in-depth understanding of students’ views on integration of scientific stories into science lessons. Quantitative data were gathered through Torrance Test of Creative Thinking Test (TTCT) and Attitude toward Science Questionnaire to examine the effects of the integration of scientific stories on students’ creativity and attitudes toward science. Also, quantitative data were used to make within-group and cross-group comparisons. Quantitative data analysis revealed that the intervention did not result in a significant difference in students’ creativity. However, qualitative data indicated that students developed more positive attitudes toward the integration of scientific stories into science lessons. Specifically, students contended that scientific stories were informative, fun, and engaging, enables them to understand abstract concepts more easily and to make real-life connections, and provides learning environments in which they can express their ideas freely. Therefore, the integration of scientific stories into science lesson positively influenced students’ affective learning. Implications and recommendations for further studies were presented based on the results.