the effect of gender and reasoning ability on the students' understanding of ecological concepts ...

127 Pages·2006·0.68 MB·English

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THE EFFECT OF GENDER AND REASONING ABILITY ON THE STUDENTS’
UNDERSTANDING OF ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND ATTITUDE
TOWARDS SCIENCE

HACER SOYLU

SEPTEMBER 2006
THE EFFECT OF GENDER AND REASONING ABILITY ON THE STUDENTS’
UNDERSTANDING OF ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND ATTITUDE
TOWARDS SCIENCE

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APLLIED SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

HACER SOYLU

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

SEPTEMBER 2006
Approval of the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences

________________________________
Prof. Dr. Canan ÖZGEN
Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of
Mater of Science

________________________________
Prof. Dr. Ömer GEBAN
Head of Department

This is to certify that we read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in
scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science

_____________________________ ________________________________
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ceren TEKKAYA Assist Prof. Dr. Jale ÇAKIROĞLU
Co-Supervisor Supervisor

Examining Committee Members

Prof. Dr. Ömer GEBAN (METU, SSME) _______________

Assist. Prof. Dr. Jale ÇAKIROĞLU (METU, ELE) _______________

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ceren TEKKAYA (METU, ELE) _______________

Assist. Prof. Dr. Semra SUNGUR (METU, ELE) _______________

Dr. F. Ömer ÖZDEMİR (METU, SSME) _______________
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that,
as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material
and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last name : Hacer SOYLU

Signature :

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ABSTRACT

THE EFFECT OF GENDER AND REASONING ABILITY ON THE STUDENTS’
UNDERSTANDING OF ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND ATTITUDE
TOWARDS SCIENCE

Soylu, Hacer
M.S., Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education
Supervisor: Assist Prof. Dr. Jale ÇAKIROĞLU
Co-supervisor: Assoc Prof. Dr. Ceren TEKKAYA

September 2006, 111 pages

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of gender and
reasoning ability on the 8th grade students’ understanding of ecological concepts and
attitude toward science. All 8th grade students from public elementary school in
Tosya participated in the study. Students’ understanding, attitude toward science and
reasoning ability were also measured by means of the Test of Ecology Concept
(TEC), the Attitude Scale toward Science (ASTS) and the Test of Logical Thinking
(TOLT) respectively. In order to investigate students’ understanding deeply,
interview was conducted.

Results of the TEC and interview show that students have many
misconceptions concerning ecosystem, population, community, decomposers, food
chain, food web, energy pyramid and energy flow. Students’ understanding for the
first tier (M= 55.8), combination of first two tiers (M= 27) and combination of all
three tiers (M= 21.2) were calculated according to TEC results.

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Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) conducted to determine
the effect of gender on students’ understanding of ecological concepts and attitude
towards science when reasoning ability was controlled. The results indicated that
there was significant gender difference in favor of girls with respect to students’
understanding of ecological concepts and attitude towards science when reasoning
ability was controlled (Wilks’ Lambda=0.97; p=.00).

Key words: Misconception, ecological conception, reasoning ability, gender
difference, attitude toward science, three-tier diagnostic test.

v
ÖZ

CİNSİYETİN VE MANTIKSAL DÜŞÜNME YETENEĞİNİN ÖĞRENCİLERİN
EKOLOJİK KAVRAMLARI ANLAMAVE FEN BİLGİSİ DERSİNE YÖNELİK
TUTUMLARINA ETKİSİ

SOYLU, Hacer
Yüksek Lisans, Orta Öğretim Fen ve Matematik Alanları Eğitimi Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Jale Çakıroğlu
Ortak Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Ceren Tekkaya

Eylül 2006, 111 sayfa

Bu çalışmanın amacı cinsiyetin ve mantıksal düşünme yeteneğinin
öğrencilerin ekoloji kavramlarını anlama ve fen bilgisine yönelik tutumlarına etkisini
araştırmaktır. Bu çalışmaya Tosya ilçesinden ilköğretim okullarında eğitim gören
bütün sekizinci sınıf öğrencileri katılmıştır. Öğrencilerin kavram yanılgılarını, fen
bilgisi dersine yönelik tutumlarını ve mantıksal düşünme yeteneklerini sırasıyla
Ekoloji Kavram Testi, Fen Bilgisi Tutum Ölçeği ve Mantıksal Düşünme Yetenek
Testi ile ölçülmüştür. Öğrencilerin kavram yanılgılarını derinlemesine araştırmak
için mülakat yapılmıştır.

Ekoloji Kavram testi ve mülakat sonuçları öğrencilerin ekosistem,
populasyon, kominite, ayrıştırıcılar, besin zinciri, besin ağı, enerji piramidi ve enerji
akışıyla ilgili bir çok kavram yanılgısına sahip olduğunu göstermektedir. Ekoloji
Kavram Testi sonuçlarına göre öğrencilerin anlama seviyeleri testin birinci
basamağına(M= 55.8), ilk iki basamağın kombinasyonunu (M= 27) ve üç basamağın
kombinasyonu (M= 21.2) için hesaplanmıştır.

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Cinsiyetin öğrencilerin ekolojik kavramları anlama ve fen bilgisi dersine
yönelik tutumlarına etkisini ölçmek için çoklu kovaryans analizi kullanılmıştır.
Sonuçlar, öğrencilerin ekolojik kavramları anlama ve fen bilgisi dersine yönelik
tutumlarına cinsiyetin kızlar yönünde etkisi olduğu, aynı zamanda cinsiyetle
mantıksal yetenek arasında bir etkileşim olduğunu göstermiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Kavram yanılgısı, ekolojik kavramlar, mantıksal yetenek,
cinsiyet farklılığı, fen bilgisine yönelik tutum, üç aşamalı tanı testi.

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To My Parents

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to thank and express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Assist
Prof. Dr. Jale Çakıroğlu and co-supervisor Assoc Prof. Dr. Ceren Tekkaya for their
helpful guidance and their encouragement.

I also thank to my husband, Selçuk Çeşmeci and my daughter Hatice Çeşmeci for
their patient and support.

I want to thank my parents, my husband’s parents and all my friends, especially
Nagihan Fesli, Elif Şenelmiş and Ertan Şenelmiş for their help.

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