The Effect of Journal Writing, One of the “Writing to Learn” Activities, on Achievement and Science Attitude in the Fourth Grade Science Course

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Pınar E., Yıldız A.

Journal of Current Researches on Social Sciences, cilt.10, sa.1, ss.179-196, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of journal writing, which is one of the “writing to learn” activities, on students’ academic achievement, learning retention, and attitudes towards science in the elementary school fourth grade science course unit called “Illumination and Sound Technologies”. Quasi-experimental research design, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The population of the study consists of a total of 44 fourth grade students, with 24 students in experimental group and 20 students in control group, studying in a state elementary school located in Yakutiye, Erzurum. After the pre-test was administered to the participants, the students in the experimental group students wrote a journal as a “writing to learn” activity for each section of the unit for five weeks. Science Course Achievement Test (SCAT) and Attitude Scale for Science Course (ASS) were used as a data collection tool. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of normality, Mann Whitney U, Wilcoxon signed rank test and independent t-test were used for the research data analysis. The pre-test findings of the research revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the achievement levels of the students in the experimental and control groups. When the experimental and control group students’ SCAT post test data values were compared, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference in favour of experimental group writing a journal, which is one of the “writing to learn” activities (WTL). When the experimental and control groups’ retention data analysis were examined, it was revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups A statistically significant difference was found between the experimental group’s pre-test and post-test scores regarding the attitude scale for science course but it was determined that there was not a significant difference between the control group’s pre-test and post-test scores.