The Effects of Constructivist Science Teaching Program on Scientific Processing Skills of 6 year-old Children

Abstract

The basic aim of this study is to reveal the effect of a Constructivist Science Teaching Program developed by researchers for efficient and lasting acquisition of scientific processing skills by 6 year olds attending preschool education institutions. The study in which an experimental pre-test post-test model with control group was used the experimental group is composed of a total of 80 children, attending preschool education in 2009-2010 education year, 40 being in the experimental group, 40 being in the control group. The mean age of children is X=71,12 (±0.87) and monthly incomes of their families are less than $1000. Data was collected with a interview form called “Preschool Scientific Processing Skills Scale” which was also developed by researchers. In the in-group comparison of pre-test and post-test score means of experimental and control groups dependent t-test was used and to find out differences between groups independent t-test was used. According to the result of the study, there found significant difference between the Preschool Scientific Processing Skills Scale scores of the children in the experimental group who received Constructivist Science Teaching Program and those of the children who received traditional teaching program at 0.05 level. The scores of the experimental group were found to be higher than the scores of the children in the control group. This result indicates that Constructivist Science Teaching Program administrated to children attending preschool education groups is effective in the acquisition of scientific processing skills.