Abstract:

The aim of this study is to analyze the dissertation researches (from 2005 to 2010) about the new Primary Science and Technology Curriculum which is put into practice since 2004-2005 academic year.. The material analyzed includes 35 master and 1 doctoral dissertations completed between 2005 and 2010 years. The method used is document analysis. The research data are presented on the four key themes: (a) author and supervisor patterns, (b) classroom level, (c) methodology employed, and (d) topics and subtopics. The analysis revealed that a great majority of the dissertations were carried out by female students, but a high majority of supervisors consisted of the males. Regarding the classroom level, the dissertation researches have mostly focused on the fourth and fifth grade at primary level. There was a high number of survey type of research design (94.4 percent). As regards the method employed in the dissertations, the quantitative studies (53.3 percent) were still too many, compared to the qualitative ones (13.8 percent). Concerning the dissertation topics, ‘teacher opinions’ was identified as the most frequently studied general topic (37.5 percent). Key words: Science and technology curriculum, science education, science and technology dissertations, document analysis.

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