Abstract
VIEWS OF TEACHERS AND LEVELS OFSTUDENTS ON THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COURSE
The purpose of this study was to determine views of students and teachers on the learning environment in the Science and Technology courses. The sample of the study was composed of the 289 students which 67 fifth grade, 73 sixth grade, 75 seventh grade and 74 eighth grade and five science and technology teachers in three secondary schools located in Erzurum. “Constructivist Learning Environment Questionnaire” (CLEQ) and semi-structured interviews for the teachers were used as data collection tools. Case study method was conducted in this study. This study consisted of two stages. CLEQ was applied to students in the first stage. Teachers’ views were taken semi-structured interviews with in the second stage. Results of the CLEQ showed that the fifth and sixth grade learning environment was better than as in the seventh and eighth grades. Moreover, teachers identified that topics of the science and technology courses in the seventh and eighth grades were longer than the topics in the fifth and sixth grades. According to the teachers, their seventh and eighth grade students demanded that courses were completely conducted by teachers. In the 4+4+4 education system, especially in the recent years, students and teachers have had difficulties due to the changes occurred in the eighth grade secondary school. In addition, it can be inferred that it was a favourable improvement to get the fifth grades in the scope of the secondary school.
Keywords
The Learning Environment, Science and Technology Course, Views of Students, Views of Teachers, Const
