Authentic Teaching Tasks for Academic Success, Attitude, Problem Solving, and Creative Thinking Skills

This research was prepared in order to determine the change in students’ academic achievement, retention levels and attitudes, and problem solving skill and creative thinking skill as a result of programming teaching with authentic task-based applications. The research was prepared using an experimental design with pretest-posttest control group. In the study group of the research, 2^nd year Computer Technologies Department students who studied at Erciyes University in the 2017–2018 academic year and took the Web Design Fundamentals course and the Research Methods and Techniques course are included. One of the second-year branches was determined as experimental group (n = 30) and the other one was determined as the control group (n = 33). The teaching of programming to the experimental group students was carried out with authentic tasks. Lessons were conducted with the control group students using the traditional teaching method. Achievement test developed by the researchers as pre-test, post-test, retention test, as well as Attitude Scale Toward Computer Programming developed by Baser (2013), Problem Solving Inventory developed by Heppner and Peterson (1982) and adapted to Turkish by Sahin, Sahin and Heppner (1993), “How Creative Are You?” scale developed by Raudsepp (1977) and adapted to Turkish by Coban (1999) were used. With research, it was concluded that authentic task-oriented practices increased students’ programming academic success and attitudes towards programming, and also positively affected both students’ problem-solving skills and creative thinking skills.