The Influence of Activities Based on GEMS with the Theme of Earth Crust on the Fourth Grade Students’ Conceptual Understanding and Scientific Process Skills

This study aimed to determine the influence of the activities developed based on GEMS on students’ conceptual understanding and scientific process skills on the subject of “Earth Crust”. Mixed method, which includes the collective use of qualitative and quantitative research methods, was employed in this study. The study was carried out in a public village school located in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The research sample consisted of the 4th grade students of this school. 13 students participated in the study. Data were collected by Scientific Process Skills Test, Conceptual Understanding Test, and semi-structured interviews. Six successive activities were conducted. These activities are as follows: Field Trip, Let’s Examine the Rocks, Factors Influential on Soil Formation (Parental Involvement), Erosion, Fossils and Rocks with an Economic Value, and Mathematical Modeling. The research findings show that an improvement occurred in the understanding levels of the students regarding the concepts of rock, metal, fossil, soil formation, and erosion as a result of the activities conducted. In addition, they had an opportunity to make observations, collect, record, and analyze data. Moreover, the activities were supported by mathematical skills such as measuring, modeling, and creating graphs.


Introduction
Today's innovative teaching approaches aim to educate individuals through interactive practices where knowledge is concretized as much as possible; the active participation of students is ensured; their scientific and social skills are developed; and obtained knowledge is applied to daily life (Tekbıyık, Birinci-Konur & Şeyihoğlu, 2014). In this way, the aim is to improve scientific and social skills. GEMS (Great Exploration in Math and Science) is considered one such modern curriculum involving the abovementioned characteristics within its scope. GEMS activities, which are created by guided discovery based on scientific inquiry, aim to enable students to learn independently, think critically, understand basic scientific and mathematical concepts, acquire scientific skills, and have positive attitudes towards science and mathematics (Barrett et al., 1999). GEMS, which aims to endear science and mathematics to children in early ages via amusing activities, is based on interdisciplinary ties and testable real-life practices and allows learners to experience all scientific processes by putting them at the center (Barrett et al., 1999).
The review of the contemporary national (Turkish) and international science education literature shows that more importance is attached to those approaches which enable children to understand and use scientific processes in comparison to those which allow them to learn basic scientific concepts, scientific generalizations, scientific theories, and scientific laws (Batı, 2013). In this regard, GEMS aims to create awareness among children that they can do science by encouraging scientific thinking and adopts students' direct participation in teaching (Yalçın & Tekbıyık, 2013). GEMS activities allow students to discover things by themselves. This approach provides a practical way of teaching both concepts and scientific process skills within a limited time period (Barrett et al., 1999).

The Characteristics of GEMS Activities
GEMS activities start with action. Those students, who get involved in an action, query the situation they work on constantly. These activities contribute to students' motivation and encourage critical thinking among them by providing them with experiences that they need in order to understand concepts and ideas better. GEMS activities make use of materials that are cheap and easy to use and access. In addition, they do not require any special scientific or mathematical skill for teachers. These activities are based on practices which are motivating, open to transfer, and more realistic than course books (Barrett et al., 1999).
Recently, the importance attached to interdisciplinary relations and multi-dimensional approaches towards problems have been on the rise to achieve meaningful learning, and integration of various disciplines to teaching has been brought to the agenda (Taşkın Can, Cantürk Günhan & Öngel Erdal, 2005). In interdisciplinary teaching, a certain concept, problem, or subject is taken as basis, and the knowledge and skills that may shed a light on this concept from various aspects are drawn and integrated from relevant fields. Hence, students are allowed to make sense of the concepts from other disciplines and acquire analysis and synthesis skills (Demirel, Tuncel, Demirhan & Demir, 2008). Thanks to an interdisciplinary organization, it is possible to acquire knowledge and skills belonging to certain disciplines and integrate them meaningfully (Aydın & Günay Balım, 2005). GEMS is considered as an internationally accepted interdisciplinary teaching process that involves the integration of science and mathematics (Czemiak, Weber, Sandmann & Ahern, 1999;Çam, 2013;Hurley, 2001).
The Science Curriculum in Turkey adopts similar approaches to GEMS. It features an inquiry-based learning strategy allowing students to acquire scientific knowledge meaningfully and permanently in an environment, where students are active and teachers are guiding in the process of planning and conducting lessons (MEB, 2013). Besides incorporating these features of the science curriculum in Turkey, GEMS also includes activities for introducing the life skills prescribed in the curriculum (e.g. critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving). Moreover, it is seen that purposes such as feeling the need to discover their environment, believing in the value of science, and seeking the meaning of the world through learning by experience like a scientist, which are all expected to be acquired by students within the scope of the science curriculum, are in line with the objectives of GEMS.
International literature includes longitudinal studies in which GEMS approach is implemented on various groups (Bevis, Granger, Saka & Southerland, 2009a;Bevis et al., 2009b). These studies revealed that GEMS activities are effective in developing positive attitudes (Sağlam, 2012), facilitating conceptual development (Yalçın & Tekbıyık, 2013), and acquiring new concepts (Sarıtaş, 2010). In addition, the activity-based structure of GEMS is reported to be more effective in increasing student achievement than traditional teaching practices (Olsen & Slater, 2009).
The aforementioned limited numbers of studies in Turkey are mainly at pre-school level (Sarıtaş, 2010;Yalçın & Tekbıyık, 2013) or have been conducted in private schools where there is a high level of access to opportunities (Sağlam, 2012). However, conducting GEMS activities at primary school level with limited environmental opportunities allows designing activities that are suitable for the environment. In this sense, analyzing the practicability of GEMS activities in a rural area with integration into regional opportunities is of importance.
Especially the international mathematics and science assessments show that the target acquisitions of today's curricula cannot be taught enough through the current approaches adopted in Turkey (MEB, 2014). The results of TIMSS 2011 indicate that Turkey ranks 36th among 50 countries taking part in the 4th grade science assessment (MEB, 2014;Yıldırım, Yıldırım, Ceylan & Yetişir, 2013). Science content in TIMSS is divided into 3 domains, which are Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth Science. According to the distribution on the basis of content domains, mean achievement is 45% for Physical Sciences, 43% for Life Science, and 40% for Earth Science. Earth science is seen to be the subject area in which the 4th grade students have the lowest achievement in TIMSS. Previous research demonstrates that students do not have adequate conceptual levels on earth science subjects. Literature review indicates that studies focusing on earth science are mainly based on the analysis of the influence of a technique or instruction method on achievement, knowledge level, and attitude (Akkuş, 2009;Aksoy & Gürbüz, 2012;Kocaoğlu, 2012;Aktaş, 2012). In addition, studies have mostly been conducted with middle school students and pre-service teachers while there are only a few studies at primary school level (Bozkurt, Akın & Uşak, 2004;Özgen, 2012;Özgen, 2013;Altıntaş, 2014).
Thus, activities with the theme of "earth crust" were developed in the present study within the scope of the acquisitions of the unit "Secret of the Earth". An attempt was made to integrate GEMS activities into the current curriculum rather than creating an alternative to it based on GEMS. Accordingly, this study aimed to determine the influence of the developed activities on the 4th grade students' conceptual understanding and scientific process skills on the theme of earth crust. To this end, the sub-problems below were tried to be answered: 1. What is the influence of the curriculum based on GEMS activities on students' conceptual development?
2. What is the influence of the curriculum based on GEMS activities on students' scientific process skills?
3. What are the views of students regarding the curriculum based on GEMS activities?

Research Design
Mixed method was employed in the study. Mixed method studies are not simple mixtures of qualitative and quantitative approaches; rather they are integration studies in which these approaches support one another (Fırat, Kabakçı-Yurdakul & Ersoy, 2014). The collective use of qualitative and quantitative data provides a better insight into research problems compared to studies employing any single method and is recommended for multi-disciplinary studies (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Convergent parallel, which is a mixed method design, was employed in the study. This design deals with the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of the study simultaneously. However, they are separated from one another in the data analysis process. The results are combined while making general interpretations (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011).

Participants
The study was carried out in a public primary school located in a rural area of the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The study sample consisted of the 4th grade students of this school. 13 students (7 females and 6 males) participated in the study. The study was conducted in a school located in a rural area because it was thought that the flexible and easy-to-apply nature of GEMS would provide an advantage for such schools which apparently differ from city schools in terms of resources, equipment, and success. These differences between the schools in rural areas and urban areas manifest themselves in national and international exams, too. Mean mathematics and science achievement scores obtained from TIMSS 2011 indicate that the disadvantages of the schools in rural areas also have a negative influence on achievement. In other words, students studying in urban areas have higher achievements than those studying in rural areas (MEB YEĞİTEK, 2014).
In addition, students establishing a bond with their environment should be directed to educational activities that allow them to show sensitivity towards social, economic, ecological, etc. problems of their environment (Senge et al., 2000). Realistic learning environments which represent the world where children live, study, and play to a great degree allow them to use their high-level skills (Borich, 2013). In this sense, the rural area, where the study was conducted, was estimated to be quite a convenient area for the implementation of the learning activities requiring the direct use of the environment one lives in rather than being a representation of the real life.

Scientific Process Skills Test:
A scientific process skills test was prepared based on the scope of the GEMS activities about "earth crust" developed in the study and the levels of the primary school 4th grade students. The test contained questions addressing the skills of deducing, determining the variables, observing, processing data and creating models, and interpreting and inducing. Taking into account the acquisitions associated with the developed activities, a table of specifications was prepared for scientific process skills to ensure content validity. Afterwards, expert views were taken, and the test was finalized. The test-retest method was used to ensure the reliability of the test. The developed test was administered to the 4th grade students attending a different village school twice (the second test administered one week later following the first test). The coefficient of correlation between two tests was found to be 0.96. Therefore, the test had high-level reliability in terms of stability. The developed test was administered to the participants before and after the study as pretest and posttest respectively. Sample questions from Scientific Process Skills Test are given in Appendix 1.

Conceptual Understanding Test (CUT):
Conceptual Understanding Test (CUT) test composed of open-ended questions, which were prepared based on the scope of GEMS activities about "earth crust" developed in the study and the acquisitions of the unit "Secret of the Earth" included in the Science Curriculum (2013) in order to measure conceptual understanding among the students. There are 11 items in CUT to reveal ideas regarding the concepts of rocks, minerals, mines, factors influential on soil formation, erosion, and fossil. Expert views were taken before implementing the test. In this sense, the views of a science and geography (earth science) educator/academician and a primary school teacher were taken to organize the items in the test. In addition, a pilot study of CUT was performed in a different rural school with characteristics similar to those of the target group. The test was finalized following this implementation. The form was administered to the participant group in written form as pretest and posttest.

Interview:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 3 female students and 3 male students who were selected via convenience sampling method among the participants in order to reveal student views about GEMS-based teaching practices. Focus group discussion was preferred in order to allow the participants to express themselves better and ensure a holistic evaluation of the study. Group interviews can be employed after experiences such as implementation of a certain policy or a curriculum in order to allow participants to evaluate the practice from multiple perspectives (Büyüköztürk, 2007;Glesne, 2013). The interviews were carried out by use of the interview forms prepared. In the interviews, the students were asked whether activities were interesting and fun. They also explained what kind of knowledge and skills they acquired thanks to the activities and for which type of courses and subjects such activities would be beneficial. Previous studies focusing on similar characteristics (Birinci-Konur, Şeyihoğlu, Sezen & Tekbıyık, 2011;Marulcu, Saylan & Güven, 2014;Tekbıyık, Şeyihoğlu, Sezen-Vekli & Birinci-Konur, 2013) were used to form the questions in the interview form. In addition, items of the interview form were simplified by taking into account the views of a science expert and a social sciences expert.

Data Analysis
Qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were used together. The quantitative data obtained from Scientific Process Skills Test were analyzed through Wilcoxon test via IBM SPSS Statistics 20. The qualitative data obtained from Conceptual Understanding Test were analyzed through descriptive analysis. The data obtained through the interviews, on the other hand, were analyzed through content analysis. Encoding was performed by identifying common views via content analysis. Based on these codes, the themes which could represent the data in general were created. On the other hand, the same set of data was encoded by two different researchers in order to ensure reliability. Decisions were made on the inconsistent codes through consensus.

Implementation Process
GEMS-based activities require an effective planning. The research was planned by considering the subject of the GEMS-based work, the way the activities would pay regard to environmental conditions, the way parental involvement would be ensured, the way scientific process skills and conceptual understanding levels would be determined, and so on. Accordingly, a set of activities complying with the nature of GEMS were developed. A meeting was held with the 4th grade students constituting the sample of the study prior to the implementation process. They were informed about what the study involved and why and how the process would be conducted. The activities deal with rocks, factors influential on soil formation, the influence of erosion, fossil formation, and the contribution of mines to the country's economy.

Activities
This section presents brief information regarding the focus of successive activities. The details regarding the acquisitions and scientific process skills of each activity are given in Appendix 2.

Activity 1-Field Trip:
The students made examinations under the guidance of the teacher in a field close to the school, where they observed the structures of rocks. The students observed the structures of rocks, collected various rock samples from the field, and placed them in bags. They put tags on the bags and wrote short notes about the field and the structure of rocks on these tags (e.g. field is a dip slope; rock samples are square, hard, and brown; date).

Activity 2-Let's examine the rocks:
The students brought the rocks they collected during field trip to the class and examined them. In these examinations, they classified the rocks according to their colors, shapes, brightness, and hardness. Thus, they understood the role of minerals in the structure of rocks.

Activity 3-Factors Influential on Soil Formation (Parental Involvement):
In order to make students understand the role of plants in soil formation, some biscuits and toothpicks were brought to the classroom. Biscuits represented rocks while toothpicks represented the roots of plants. The toothpicks dug into various parts of the biscuits led them to break into pieces. Thus, the students understood the role of the plants in breaking rocks into pieces and soil formation. In order to make the students understand the role of change in temperature for soil formation, the brickbats in a pot were left in the school, where they waited in water for 4 or 5 hours. Afterwards, the brickbats, to which water was thoroughly penetrated, were placed into plastic bags, and the students took them their homes. Informative bulletins were sent to parents regarding the activities. Thus, they were informed about the content of the activities. The students placed the brickbats which absorbed water in the freezer with the bags they were in for a night. They checked what happened the next day. With the discussion questions in the bulletin, they inquired what the reason was for the change in the brickbats. They wrote their observations on the charts and shared them with their friends. It was seen in the activity that the water, whose volume expanded upon being frozen, created cracks in the brickbats.

Activity 4-Erosion:
An activity was prepared to reveal the relationship between erosion and soil loss. A comparative observation was made between the environment with trees and the environment without trees. Two bottles filled with two different surfaces were put under water until they got thoroughly watered. The water flowing down the slopes accumulated in the glasses. The water in the glasses was filtered, and the amount of remaining soil was measured. The students tried to find out "Why did one of the glasses have more soil than the other glass?". They shared their opinions about the precautions that can be taken to prevent erosion.

Activity 5-Fossils:
In order to construct the concepts of fossil formation, fossil science, and fossil scientist in the students' minds, ready fossil molds were brought to the class, and the students were asked to dig. They worked in groups of three. The students who worked like a fossil scientist during the excavation felt more curious in each part. They formed the skeleton of the fossil by combining all the excavated parts.

Activity 6-Rocks with an Economic Value and Mathematical Modeling:
An informative video was played explaining where and how mines are processed, how they are used, and in which areas they are used. After drawing attention to the concept of mine, two different mathematical modeling activities were conducted. Both activities were constructed on a problem situation. In one of the mathematical modeling activities, the students tried to find out when the mine in a reservoir would deplete. In the other mathematical modeling activity, the students analyzed the relationships between the humidity rates and heat amounts of three different coal types. In both activities, the students used skills such as interpreting a table, converting data into tables and graphs, and interpreting graphics.

Findings from Conceptual Understanding Test
Conceptual Understanding Test consisting of open-ended questions was administered to the students as a pretest and posttest in order to determine the influence of the activities on their conceptual development. The test contained items in the following four sub-dimensions: rocks, mines, soil, and fossils. Table 1 shows the students' views on rocks. It is seen that the students' definitions of rocks and explanations as to what they are made of improved following the activity. Prior to the activity, only one student selected the option "Of minerals". It is seen that half of the students (f=7) included this option in their responses following the activity. In addition, the expression "Rocks are colorful because they contain different minerals" was stated by only one student before the activity while nearly all the students (f=12) selected this option after the activity.  Table 2 shows student views on the concept of mine. The variety in the student' views on defining mines and their contribution to economy and technology were not observable prior to the activity while they became prominent following the activity. Moreover, the number of the students associating the concepts of mine and economy with one another increased. Following the activity, 12 students regarded the rocks with economic value as mine; 8 students stated that mines contribute to economy; and 6 students pointed out that mines contribute to technology though their use for tools and instruments. Table 3 shows student views regarding the factors influential on soil formation and erosion. Student views regarding the factors influential on soil formation significantly changed following the activity. In addition, plants and mushrooms, which were not mentioned among the factors influential on soil formation prior to the activity, were mentioned by the students following the activity. The concept of erosion was accurately defined by 4 students prior to the activity whereas this number increased up to 9 following the activity. Moreover, 4 student responses included misconceptions regarding erosion before the activity. The same students kept their misconceptions following the activity. However, one of the 310 students did not use this problematic expression after the activity. Furthermore, the solutions proposed by the students regarding struggle against erosion did not change in terms of variety; however, there was an increase in their frequencies. As a recommendation for struggle against erosion, 7 students mentioned "planting trees" prior to the activity. However, this precaution was mentioned by 12 students following the activity.  Table 4 shows student views on the concept of fossils. The table indicates that the students did not know the concept of fossils prior to the activity. They did not know what fossils mean for the world we live in. Following the activity, 5 students used the term fossilization. An increase was observed in student answers to the question "Which methods should be used to discover the past secrets of the world we live in?" following the activity. 5 students mentioned "excavation studies", which was not stated prior to the activity, after the activity.

Scientific Process Skills
Test composed of open-ended questions was administered as a pretest and as a posttest in order to determine the influence of the GEMS-based activities on the scientific process skills of the students. The test contained questions addressing the skills of deducing, determining the variables, observing, processing data and creating models, and interpreting and inducing. Table 5 shows the analysis results of the students' pretest and posttest scores obtained from Scientific Process Skills Test. The data in the table indicate significant differences in favor of the posttest scores in terms of the skills of deducing (z=-2.81, p<.05), determining the variables (z=-2.97, p<.05), observing (z=-2.97, p<.05), processing data and creating models (z=-2.43, p<.05), and interpreting and inducing (z=-2.96, p<.05).

Findings Obtained from Interviews
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 3 female students and 3 male students in order to reveal the students' views about the activity process. Table 6 shows the findings obtained from the analysis of the interviews in the form of themes and codes. Direct quotations are presented in this paper in order to show the data from which the results were obtained.
In response to the question "What do you think of the activities?", the students stated that they were nice, fun, and interesting. They also noted that they really enjoyed the activities and would love to carry out them once again. Some of the student responses regarding this issue are as follows: S3 "I think it was real fun. I liked both studying with you and entertaining activities."; S2 "I really liked the biscuit and toothpick activity. It was interesting."; S6 "It was very good. We found bones. I really liked the excavation. The excavation and revelation of bones were fun." In response to the question "Were the activities understandable and easy to perform?", the students stated that the activities were understandable and easy to perform. Some of the student responses regarding this issue are as follows: S3 "They were easy and understandable. They were both fun and simple. They were the stuff we were able to do."; S5 "They were understandable and easy to perform." In response to the question "What were the contributions of the activities to your learning?", the students stated that the activities helped them to acquire new knowledge, aroused their will to make research, and enabled their knowledge to be permanent. Some of the student responses regarding this issue are as follows: S1 "For instance, I learnt that plants break rocks into pieces after long periods of time."; S4 "I learnt what fossilization means, that rocks are made of minerals, and that minerals color the rocks." S3 "Yes. Having made such activities, I tried to make my own excavations at home. I found metals, various stones, worms, various insects, and animals near the pond. I examined the stones. I looked at their colors. I tried to find out which animals live in water. I saw something similar to a millipede. I want to make research about fossils." S6 "The bones and excavations made me want to make research." In response to the question "Would you be happy to engage in such activities once or a couple of times a week?", the students stated that they considered these activities useful and would love to engage in such activities on certain days and at certain times in a week. They expressed that the activities were fun and contributed to their learning. Some of the student responses regarding this issue are as follows: S1 "I would be happy because it is fun. We would learn many new things." S5 "I would be happy because such activities are entertaining." S4 "It would be good. It would be useful since they are easy and fun." In response to the question "How do you think these activities can be conducted in other courses?", the students stated that they can be conducted in social sciences, mathematics, and Turkish language courses. Some of the student responses regarding this issue are as follows: S1 "I think it can be employed in the social sciences course because there are similar subjects in the social sciences course such as the layers of our world." S2 "I think it can be employed in the Turkish course because there are reading texts in relation to these subjects. We learn similar things from similar stories in the texts." S5 "I think it can be employed in the Mathematics course because we make calculations such as addition and subtraction. The activities involve addition and subtraction operations, which is why I believe it can be employed in Mathematics."

Discussion
In this study, the effectiveness of the implementation of a curriculum prepared based on the GEMSbased activities in a village school was examined. Initially, the study sought an answer to the question "What is the influence of the curriculum based on GEMS activities on students' conceptual development?". The study results indicated that the conceptual understanding of the students regarding the concepts of rocks, mines, fossils, soil formation, and erosion improved. The activities particularly activated cognitive processes such as defining and associating the concepts. Hence, it is possible to say that conceptual variety improved as well. This may be because the activities were prepared in an interdisciplinary structure and the students took active roles based on daily life experiences. While the students were constructing the concept of rocks in the activities, they examined rocks in a field close to their school. They collected rock samples, observed natural factors influential on soil formation, took notes in the field like a scientist, and sorted the rock samples they brought to the class. In regard to erosion, they engaged in activities such as comparing soil loss, observing, and reaching a result by measuring the amount of lost soil. The concepts of fossils and fossilization were studied on a model similar to the real situation. An attempt was made to the provide the students with the knowledge of the contribution of mines to the country's economy and the idea of sustainability through a mathematical modeling dealing with the depletion process of reservoir in a mining area. It is seen that all the mentioned practices offered important and rich learning experiences to the students. The results are consistent with the results of previous studies in terms of conceptual understanding (Sarıtaş, 2010) and conceptual variety (Yalçın & Tekbıyık, 2013).
CUT administered as a pretest indicated that the students had misconceptions regarding erosion. The students defined erosion as "landslide". Previous studies report that this is a common misconception among students from primary school to university (Pınar & Akdağ, 2012;Özgen, 2013;Turan & Kartal, 2012). Since no particular attention was paid to eliminate the misconceptions of the students during the activities, three students kept their misconceptions in the posttest as well.
The second sub-problem of the study is "What is the influence of the curriculum based on GEMS activities on students' scientific process skills?". The results of the study indicated a significant difference in the posttest results in regard to the skills of deducing, determining the variables, observing, processing data and creating models, and interpreting and inducing. Acting like a scientist, the students had the opportunity to make observations, collect data, record them, and make analyses. In addition, the activities were supported with mathematical skills such as measuring, modeling, and graphing. Hence, the students had the opportunity to exhibit both scientific and mathematical skills simultaneously. Previous studies support these data, too. In other words, GEMS-based activities make positive contributions to students' scientific process skills (Bevis, Granger, Saka, & Southerland, 2009;Yalçın & Tekbıyık, 2013). Previous studies report that instruction practices based on active learning, research, and inquiry yield effective results in the matter of scientific process skills, raising the awareness of scientific process skills and making more importance be attached to science (Kula, 2009;Günel, Kabataş-Memiş & Büyükkasap, 2010;Tekbıyık et al., 2013).
The third sub-problem of the study is "What are the views of students regarding the curriculum based on GEMS activities?". The results obtained from the student interviews indicated that the students found the activities fun, interesting, and easy to perform and understand. They also stated that the activities made them eager to make research, helped them to make research, and ensured the permanency of what they learnt. Previous studies support this result. It is reported that GEMS-based practices are welcomed by students, teachers, and parents (Sağlam, 2012).
Another remarkable point mentioned by students in the interviews is that GEMS activities aroused a will to make analysis and research among them. The students denoted that they started to use the skills they learnt at school via activities in their daily lives. The students with higher sensitivity towards the incidents taking place around them started to engage in exploring their environment through various analyses. GEMS aims at making curiosity a permanent part of the daily life. Curiosity, the skills of getting into action, the skill of inquiry during the action, and the skill of reflection are the skills intended for the students' acquisition through GEMS activities.
Parental involvement is of importance in GEMS activities. Getting involved in activities, being informed about the learning experiences at school, and learning with children make parents an active part of education. Such support and trust a student receives from his/her close environment increases his/her belief in learning and integrates school with life. The present study included parental involvement and made them a part of the process. Bringing what they learnt at school their homes, they got the opportunity to transform their close environments into learning environments.

Conclusion and Recommendations
This study was carried out based on the GEMS approach through activities with the theme of earth crust in a primary school located in a rural area. It contributed much to the development of the students' conceptual understanding regarding rocks and rock formation, mines, soil formation, erosion, and fossils. In addition, the study was influential on the skills of deducing, determining variables, observing, processing data and creating models, and interpreting and inducing. Furthermore, the students found the GEMS activities interesting, fun, easy, understandable, and contributive to learning.
Taking all three dimensions of the study into account, it can be said that the study based on the GEMS approach yielded effective results in a school located in a rural area of Turkey. GEMS has an active, fun, easy to practice, and interdisciplinary structure that keeps the curiosity alive, which allows an instruction based on this approach to make a holistic contribution in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor terms. The activities within the scope of the study were implemented in a school located in a rural area, allowing the natural development of learning. Through successive activities that complemented one another, inquiry was maintained ceaselessly.
The following recommendations are put forward in the light of the results obtained from the study: This study, which was carried out at 4 th grade level in a rural area, revealed the practicability of the GEMS-based activities. The activity design is like a guide for teachers. In other words, it can be employed by teachers to conduct similar practices in their classes.
 Various activities can be developed regarding various subjects and acquisitions based on the GEMS approach and their efficiency can be analyzed.
 A spiral curriculum module can be created based on GEMS within the scope of a subject or a unit, and longitudinal studies covering certain grade levels (e.g. 1-4, 5-8.) can be carried out.
 Courses, seminars, and in-service training activities introducing GEMS can be held for parents and educators in order to increase the common influence of the GEMS approach.

Scientific Process Skills Test Sample Question
The table below shows the humidity rates and heat amounts of various types of coal used by different apartments. The table also shows the views of the residents from these apartments regarding the warmness in their houses as well as coal prices per ton. Based on this information, please answer the following questions:

Apartments
The type of the coal b) Considering the amount of the coal used by apartments for heating, which ones is more efficient and cost-efficient? Why?