Özet:

In this study it was aimed to investigate the students’opinions regarding using zoos which are one of the out of school learning environments, as an educational resource in science teaching. For this purpose, a qualitative data was obtained by semistructured interviews in order to resolve the problem. Study group which was selected with purposeful sampling strategy was composed of 33 sixth grade students of Piri Reis Elementary School in Gölcük which is a district in the province of Kocaeli. The study was conducted in 2011-2012 academic year. In this study as a data collection instrument, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students in order to obtain their conceptions regarding the current status of zoos in science teaching. For analysis of data collected through semi-structured interviews, content analysis technique was used. As a result of the interviews conducted with students, it was concluded that they have perceived zoos as an educational environment and science can be learned outside of the classroom. Moreover, they have established a relationship between activities conducted in zoos and science and technology course and it was found that environments like zoo affect students’ thoughts regarding science and technology course in a cognitive and effective level. The results of this study in which student’ opinions were evaluated, presented findings regarding the usage of zoos as an educational resourse to promote science teaching in Turkey and contributed to the literature.

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