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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 9, Issue 2, Article 10
(Dec., 2008) |
The circulatory system achievement test was administered as the pre-test in both the experimental and control groups before beginning the unit. The pre-test average score was 31.68 for the experimental group and pre test average grade was 30.21 for the control group. It was calculated that there was no statistical significance difference between pre-test results of the experimental and control groups (p = 0.385) (Table 1).
Table 1. t-test results related with pre-test grades of experimental group and control group students in circulatory system achievement test
Test
Groups
N
X
SS
t
P
Circulatory System Achievement Test
Experimental Group
19
31.68
8.84
-889
0.385
Control Group
19
30.21
9.63
Looking at Table 2, the average score of the control group students on the post-test application was higher than the average from the pre-test. Four weeks of traditional science teaching method result in a post-test average score that went up to 53.42. Here, the control group students increased their correct answer percentages in the circulatory system achievement test at the end of four weeks. There was a significant difference between scores by the control group between the pre-test and post-test of the circulatory system achievement test.
Table 2. t-test results of control group students related with the pre-test and post-test grades in the circulatory system achievement test
Test
Control group
N
X
SS
t
P
Circulatory System Achievement Test
Pre Test
19
30.21
9.63
-4.64
0.00
Post Test
19
53.42
22.28
Table 3. t-test results of the experimental group students related with the pre-test and post-test grades in the circulatory system achievement test
Test
Experimental Group
N
X
SS
t
P
Circulatory System Achievement Test
Pre Test
19
31.68
8.84
-9.60
0.00
Post Test
19
72.57
15.86
Table 3 shows that the average post-test scores by the experimental group students (receiving the 5E instructional method) was than the average grade they obtained on the pre-test application. There was a significance difference between scores by the experimental group in pre-test and post-test of the circulatory system achievement test (p=.00).
Table 4. t-test results related with post-test grades of experimental group and control group students in circulatory system achievement test
Test Groups N
X
SS
t
P
Circulatory System Achievement Test
Experimental Group
19
72.57
15.86
-2.66
.00
Control Group
19
53.42
22.28
As seen in Table 4, average post-test application scores from the experimental group were higher than average scores obtained for the traditional science teaching method post-test application. There was a significant difference between post-test grades of the experimental group and control group in the circulatory system achievement test (p = 0.00).
Considering the statistical values in the experimental and control group before the application, it was determined that there was no significant difference in the circulatory system achievement test according to pre-test results (Table 1). Post-tests were given to all students in order to analyze the effect of the two different teaching methods to determine student success in learning about the circulatory system. It was found that the experimental group students obtained a higher degree of knowledge compared to the control group students. It was also found that both the experimental group and control group students obtained gains statistically, according to the circulatory system achievement test post-test data (Table 4). However, the experimental group students obtained a higher degree of knowledge compared to the control group students (p = 0.00). Moreover, the experimental group students achieved a 100% success in a question related with heart structure in the post-test.
