Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of learning based on models on the academic success and conceptual understanding of middle-school students on the particulate nature of matter. In the research, the single group pretest-posttest semi experimental design which is one of the quantitative research methods was used. The sample of the research consists of a total of 134 students 34 of whom are 5th grade, 32 are 6th grade, 33 are 7th grade and 35 are 8th grade students from state middle-schools in a city in the Aegean Region of Turkey receiving education in the 2009-2010 academic year, who were selected with the simple random sampling method. The data of the research were collected through the ‘Evaluation Test for the Particulate Nature of Matter’ (ETPNM) and ‘Conceptual Test for the Particulate Nature of Matter’ (CTPNM). In the analysis of data, the t test was used for the related samples. As a result of the research, it was determined that model based learning has a positive effect on the academic success and conceptual understanding of middle-school students on the subject of particulate nature of matter. In addition, it was determined that the effect of model based learning on conceptual understanding is more positive compared to its effect on academic success. In the light of the research findings, the importance of model based learning in the teaching of abstract concepts was underlined and suggestions were made to the researchers and science teachers.  

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