Abstract:

Learner-centred education perspectives gained greater importance with the new curriculum put into practice as a result of the constructivist education in our country in the 2005–2006 academic year. Several modifications have been made to the curriculum on the basis of project-based learning, in terms of the aim, content, educational background, and assessment and evaluation dimensions. Project evaluation approach has become prominent, together with other evaluation methods, in assessment and evaluation applications too, because of the greater importance attached to the learning process. The aim of this research was to find out learner opinions regarding the project assignments which were performed in the course of university-school collaboration. With this aim in mind and having reviewed the literature, the researchers developed a 14-item open-ended questionnaire form and administered it to totally 30 students - 16 male and 14 female - in Grade 4 in the 2009–2010 education-instruction year. The students were asked to express their opinions regarding the project studies they realised throughout the year with 20 teacher candidates in the 3rd year of Primary School Teaching program of Uludağ University Education Faculty. In this descriptive research study, opinions of the students were examined and categorised using the content analysis method, separately by the two researchers. The findings indicated that the primary school students expressed positive opinions related to the process. While a majority of the students stated that the studies had been beneficial for them, all the students stated that they had received support from the teacher candidates and that they had collaborated with other groups on various issues. The student participants also stated that their parents had positive opinions on the project studies, that they were supported by their parents on various issues, and that their parents would like their children to participate in a new project too.

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