Epistemolojik yönden zenginleştirilmiş öğretim metodunun dokuzuncu sınıf öğrencilerinin fizik ile ilgili kişisel epistemolojilerine ve fizikteki başarısına etkileri.

This study investigated the effect of epistemologically enhanced instruction on ninth grade students’ physics related personal epistemologies and physics achievement on heat and temperature unit. The participants of the study were 186 (109 female and 77 male) ninth grade students at one Anatolian teacher training high school in Ankara. For the current study, a quasi-experimental with matching only pretest-posttest control group research design was adopted. Six classes in the school were randomly assigned to treatments and control group. Two of the classes were taught based on the explicit epistemologically enhanced instruction (EEEI), while another two of six classes were taught based on the implicit epistemologically enhanced instruction (IEEI). Latter two classes were assigned as control groups and they were instructed based on the teacher’s conventional instruction (CI). The study was completed in the second semester of the 2013-2014 academic year. The Heat and Temperature Achievement Test (HTAT) was administered to assess students’ achievement and the Physics related Personal Epistemology Questionnaire (PPEQ) was administered to distinguish changes in students’ epistemological understanding in physics. The Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was employed to examine the combined effect of teaching methods on the students’ physics related personal epistemology and their physics achievement on heat and temperature unit when students’ age, gender, previous semester physics course grades, pre-physics related personal epistemology and pre-physics achievement on heat and temperature unit were controlled. According to MANCOVA results, EEEI was found as the most effective method when compared to CI and IEEI on both students’ physics achievement and their physics related personal epistemology. Also, IEEI was found as an effective method in terms of students’ achievement on heat and temperature unit. This study revealed that embedding dimensions of personal epistemology via different activities in implicit instruction helped students to improve their physics achievement. However, making these dimensions visible explicitly to students improved both their physics achievement and their physics related personal epistemology.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra