THE OPINIONS OF TEACHERS ABOUT THE 4TH AND 5TH GRADE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM IN TURKEY

The principles of constructivism, student-centeredness, thematic approach and active learning were taken as basics in the primary education curricula which went into effect in 2005-2006 academic year. The new curricula are different from traditional ones as they put the students more in the center of education. Skills like critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, problem solving, research, decision making, using information technologies, entrepreneurship, and giving importance to individual and social values are highlighted in every curriculum. The vision of Science and Technology curriculum is determined as "regardless of individual differences all students are going to be competent in science and technology." The purpose of this research is to determine the opinions of teachers about the 4th and 5th grade Science and Technology curriculum in Turkey. 40 elementary schools in Ankara (capital of Turkey) were randomly chosen and included in the sample. A questionnaire was conducted with 308 4th and 5th grade teachers in those schools, whereas interviews were made with 20 teachers. In this study, in order to collect data, a questionnaire which has 60 items about the curriculum and an interview form were developed by the researchers. The Cronbach alfa coefficient of the questionnaire was calculated as .97. According to the results, the teachers expressed their opinions concerning the objectives, content, teaching and learning process and evaluation dimensions of the curriculum on the level of "agree". According to the results of the interview with teachers, it was understood that the main problem lied in the application. It was observed that the students and teachers had some difficulties in the application of the curriculum.