مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - “DEAL OR NO DEAL”: SHOULD SCIENCE LESSON BE TAUGHT WITH INSTRUCTIONAL GAMES?

Abstract :

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of science lessons which are taught by means of instructional games on the 5th grade pupils’ achievement and the opinions of pupils towards the utilization of instructional games in science lessons. The study was carried out in 2016- 2017 school year with 120 pupils in a secondary school. The study was conducted in the unit of “Change of Matter” 5th grade secondary school science course and instruction lasted 6 weeks in total. During six weeks, while Change of Matter unit was taught to experimental group through instructional games, the unit was instructed to the control group without using instructional games. In the study, “Academic Achievement Test” was used to determine the developments in the academic achievements of pupils. In addition, data were gathered through semi-structured interviews conducted with 20 pupils. Data obtained via the instruments were analyzed with SPSS 16.0 program. In the analysis of qualitative data, interviews and descriptive analyzes were carried out by posting collected data. After the research, data analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups on the students’ achievement in favor of the former. As a result of the interviews, it was observed that the teaching method supported by instructional games increased in the pupils interest in science lessons.