Application of writing-to-learn in science to primary school students

Abstract

In this study, the mix-method design sequential explanatory design has been used. The students in the study group consist of 13 fourth-grade students who were studying in one of Turkey’s far-flung corners. Over a period of 3 months, enriched writeto-learn strategies were implemented on the students. In this context, students wrote a letter and a journal related to the Past and Present Enlightenment Tools unit. In addition, they were presented with a story related to the unit and were asked to complete it. Two weeks after the end of the study, interviews were held to see the permanence of the students’ conceptual learning. The writings of the student were scored with authentic data collection tools. According to the findings obtained, write-lo-learn strategies have been influential on science conceptual learning. However, the greatest conceptual learning was achieved through story completion activities. A number of suggestions have been presented in the direction of findings obtained from the study.

Keywords: conceptual learning, primary school students, writing-to-learn.