THE INFLUENCE OF INSTRUCTIONAL GAMES IN SCIENCE TEACHING ON PRIMARY STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a science lesson taught by using instructional games on fourth grade students’ achievement. The study was conducted in 2012-2013 school year with 61 fourth graders in a primary school in Istanbul. Semi-structured experimental design with pre-post tests was used. There were 34 students in the experiment and 27 students in the control group. Control group received the program-based science instruction on Planet Earth for four weeks. Experimental group received the same instruction in a shorter period of time. In the remaining time, this group played instructional games with the guidance of the instructor. Pre and post-test results were compared using the t-test on SPSS 18. There were no statistically significant differences between the pre-test results of the groups. Based on the post-test results, the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group. It was concluded that without making any significant changes in the program, when instructional games are used in science classrooms effectively, student achievement can be improved.