Abstract:

In this study, the effects of using word games on the students' attitudes towards the environment in teaching of "Human and Environment Relations" unit in the 7th grade science course of secondary school. With this purpose, The matching pre-test and post-test control group quasi-experimental design was used in the research. The research was applied to 7th grade students in a randomly determined center secondary school in Samsun province. The implementation was conducted with a total of 36 students, 18 in the experimental group and 18 in the control group. While the teaching was done with the activities included in science curriculum in the control group, it was done by using word games in accordance with the unit in the experimental group. As a means of data collection, Environmental Attitude Scale developed by Aslan, Uluçınar Sağır and Cansaran (2008) was used, the data were analyzed using the SPSS 18.00 program. As a result of the data analysis, there was no significant difference between pre-test attitudes of students of experimental and control group towards environment; the results of the post-test revealed that the students in the experimental group had significantly higher retention than the students in the control group. As a result of the research, it has been concluded that the teaching of the “Human and Environment Relations” unit, the classroom game activities and the vocabulary cards prepared especially for the concepts have an influence on the students' positive attitude towards the environment. 

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