Abstract for: Effect of Systems Thinking Approach on 2nd Grade Students' Reading Comprehension in Turkish Lessons

Systems thinking (ST) approach with system dynamics tools seems to be a promising candidate for the holistic approach increasingly needed in K-12 education. The aim of this research is to examine the effect of activities using ST tools on teaching of Turkish lessons. Research, where a quasi-experimental design with post-test only nonequivalent groups model with readiness pre-test and delayed post-test is conducted to find the effect of ST on reading comprehension of 46 second grade students. Pre-test conducted indicated that the students in control and experimental groups had similar readiness levels. In contrast, post-test mean scores of students in the experimental group were higher than the control group ranging from 21% to 46% (p<0.05). After 6 weeks from the invention, randomly selected 5 students from the experimental group were interviewed and found that delayed post-test scores were not significantly different (p>0.05) from the post-test scores suggesting that lessons supported by systems thinking tools help increase retention rate. These results support the view that introducing ST concepts by using ST tools in lessons starting as early as possible in education would help students deducing deep meanings of the text they read, thinking multidimensional, developing a holistic perspective.