Assessing the ınfluence of scientific story on multiple aspects of primary school students' science learning

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the effect of using scientific stories in science education courses on the science process skills and motivation of primary school 4th-grade students towards science education course. A quasi-experimental method was applied to 37 fourth-grade primary school students from two classes in a district of the Western Black Sea region. While science education courses were given in the control group (CG) with the activities available in the science education course curriculum, in the experimental group (EG), it was given with scientific stories. Quantitative data in the research were obtained by implementing a motivation scale for learning science and a scientific process skill scale as pre-test and post-test. The experimental study was carried out for five weeks, with three-hour courses in both groups. The independent sample t-test and the t-test for dependent groups were employed to assess the outcomes from the study. The research revealed that prior to the experimental procedures, the experimental and control groups did not show any difference in terms of their scientific process skills and enthusiasm for learning science and motivation to learn science. The post-tests showed a marked contrast between the experimental and control groups, demonstrating that teaching science education courses with scientific stories was beneficial. Assessing the disparity in motivation for learning science and scientific process skills in the EG between the pre-tests and post-tests revealed a heightened motivation in the post-test, leading to the realization that the implementation of scientific stories had a positive impact on motivation for learning science.