THE EFFECT OF DESIGN-BASED ACTIVITIES PREPARED WITH THE REACT STRATEGY ON SECONDARY 7TH GRADE STUDENTS' 21ST CENTURY SKILLS AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES

Abstract

The effect of the recently popular REACT strategy on the 21st-century skills and science attitudes of secondary school 7th-grade students has been investigated in this study. A quantitative research method of quasi-experimental design with a pre-test post-test experimental control group was devised for this research. In this context, an experimental group and a control group were formed. While activities were applied with the REACT model to the experimental group, teaching techniques consisting of traditional methods were applied to the control group. Fifty-four students in a public school located in Turkey's Western Black Sea Region participated in the research. Students were picked up by a random sampling method to ensure validity and reliability. Through the quantitative data collection tools used in this study, students' "21st century skills" and "attitudes towards science studies" were examined using two different scales. For this purpose, the 21st century skills scale and the Science and Technology attitude scale were used. The data collected in the study have been analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Research has found that students in the experimental group diverted significantly in 21st-century skills and science attitudes from those in the control group in a positive way. Accordingly, it can be suggested that more usage of design-based activities in science education and increase in applications that activate students' creative thinking processes should be encouraged.