Effects of Hands and Minds on Activities Accompanied with Computer Simulation on Students’ Biology Achievement and Attitudes Toward Science Hilal AKTAMIŞ, Ercan AKPINAR, Yasemin GÜNAY, Ömer ERGİN Dokuz Eylül University, Buca Faculty of Education Department of Science Education, Izmir, Turkey hilal.askar@deu.edu.tr , ercan.akpinar@deu.edu.tr , yasemin.gunay@deu.edu.tr , omer.ergin@deu.edu.tr This study supported by Dokuz Eylul University Abstract. The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of hands-on and minds on activities accompanied with computer simulation on students’ biology achievement in a biology topic (animal and plant cells, the structure of plant, the systems of human body etc.) in a primary science lesson. The sample of this study consisted of 50 students in a primary school in Izmir in Turkey. The students in one class were referred to as experimental group (n=25) and the students in other class were referred as control group (n=25). The experimental group received hands-on and minds on activities accompanied with computer simulation and control group received traditional instruction (lectures and discussion). The data of this study has been collected by biology achievement test and science attitude scale which their validity and reliability were tested. T-test Analysis was used to test the hypotheses of the study. The present study indicated that the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group with respect to biology achievement, and showed more positive attitudes toward science. Keywords. Constructivism, hands-on minds-on activities, materials, experiments, computer simulation. 1. Introduction Research of cognitive psychologists and science educators has shown that real understanding of science concepts, as well as other concepts, occurs only students participate fully in the development of their own knowledge. That is, they must construct their own knowledge. This idea that students must build their own knowledge from their own experiences and thought is called constructivism. In constructivist theory, learners are responsible for their own learning and knowledge is not transmitted directly from one person to another, but actively constructed by the learner. Learning is an active process that requires both action and reflection on the part of the learner [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]. When the primary science programs of highly developed countries are viewed, it can be seen that these countries have developed students centered science programs and put into practice them since the middle 1970s [8]. These programs were impressed by constructivist theory. In contrast, in Turkey the primary science programs had been under the effects of behaviorist view from 1924 to 1989. Although the program applied in 1992 had some constructivist views, it was heavily based on behaviorist views and continued to be employed until 2000 [9]. In 2000, The Ministry of National Education has changed the primary science program radically and that program has been continued since 2001. When viewed, it is seen that this program has been under the constructivist theory [10] [11] and given up former programs' perspectives. The latest one has been a student centered program [12]. This program offers students engage in hands on and minds on activities and have students construct meaningful knowledge based on their own prior knowledge and experiences. In this program, student has some responsibility such as learning to learn, discovering, making research. Moreover, it offers students work cooperatively and share their knowledge and experiences with each other. When the science teacher begins course, the most important thing he or she should make is to determine prior knowledge and experience of the students and regard this lesson. In addition to