The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of constructivist instruction on the achievement, attitude towards science teaching, science process skills and retention of fourth grade preservice science teachers in Science Teaching Methods II course. Two groups (one experimental and one control) were assigned from Hacettepe University Faculty of Education Department of Science Education. Experimental group consisted of 53 preservice science teachers and the control group consisted of 50 preservice science teachers / totally 103 preservice science teachers participated in this study. Quasi experimental research design was used in this study. Constructivist instruction was used in experimental group and traditional instruction was used in control group during the teaching and learning process. This research study was conducted in fall semester of the 2007-2008 academic year and lasted 15 weeks including the final examination term. Science Process Skills Test, Attitude towards Science Teaching Scale and Achievement Test in Science Teaching Methods II course were administered to participants three times / at the beginning of the study, immediately after the implementation process and 10 weeks later. A mixed between within ANOVA with repeated measures was used as a statistical technique for analyzing quantitative data and both descriptive and content analysis was used for analyzing questionnaire, formative and summative focus group interviews. Statistical mean difference was obtained for all tests in favor of experimental group and the findings of quantitative data analysis results were supported by the qualitative data analysis results. After interpreting the results, it can be claimed that constructivist instruction is effective in preservice science education.

With the realization that traditional instructional approach has not yielded satisfactory results, quasi-experimental and descriptive research designs were employed to investigate whether the application of constructivist instructional approach in the learning of stationary points in differential calculus by Grade 12 learners in South Africa would improve conceptual learning. Three Gauteng high schools of 204 Grade 12 learners constituted the research fields – one served as the control group while the other two represented the experimental group. Being a mixed-method research, quantitative data were gathered through pre-test and post-test while qualitative data were collected from classroom observations. Both inferential and descriptive statistical methods of data collection and analysis were used. The results obtained indicate that the experimental group demonstrated a better understanding of the concept of stationary points than the control group. / Mathematics Education / M. Sc. (Mathematics Education)