The Effect of Teaching Science through Storytelling on Students’ Academic Achievement, Story Writing Skills and Opinions about Practice

Abstract

This study aims to compare the effect of storytelling in teaching on students' academic achievement with the traditional teaching method. In addition, it aims to reveal the effect of story education given to students on students' story writing skills and their opinions regarding storytelling in teaching. The study was carried out in a public primary school. The mixed research method was employed in the study. A total of 61 primary school 3rd-grade students, 31 experiments and 30 controls, participated in the study. The "Academic Achievement Test" was applied to the experimental and control group students to collect quantitative data. The journey to the world of living beings unit was taught in the experimental group for four weeks by using the stories prepared by the researcher. At the end of each lesson, the students were asked to write a science story on the subject. The "Story Writing Skills Evaluation Scale" was used to determine the change in the story writing skills of the experimental group students, and the "Student Opinion Form on Storytelling" was used to reveal the students' thoughts about storytelling in teaching activities. The traditional teaching method was used in the control group. The quantitative data used in the study were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Among the quantitative findings of the study, while there was no significant difference found between the pre-test mean scores of the experimental and control groups achievement test, a significant difference was found between the post-test scores in favor of the experimental group. The other quantitative finding of the study, in the evaluation of story writing skill, a significant difference was found between the first and the last story in favor of the last story. Positive findings were also obtained in the qualitative dimension of the study, such as the experimental group students are not unfamiliar with stories, it is fun for them to use in science lessons, and can be used in other lessons.