The purpose of the current study is to determine the effect of the differentiated instruction approach on 3rd-grade primary school students’ academic achievement (N = 45) in the “Electrical Devices and Tools” unit and to explore their opinions regarding the differentiated instruction process. In this context, the content of the lessons prepared using student-centred approaches on students’ science achievement was examined, and students’ opinions on the differentiated instruction approach were also evaluated. The study was conducted in the spring term of the 2024–2025 school year in a major city located in the central region of Türkiye, and a mixed research design combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches was employed. In the current study, during the instructional process of the experimental group, differentiated instruction lesson plans available on the Education Information Network (EIN) portal provided by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) were used. In the control group, the process outlined by the current curriculum was followed. When the findings were evaluated, statistically significant differences were found in favour of the experimental group, in which activities were implemented based on the differentiated instruction plan, compared to the control group that received instruction within the framework of the current curriculum. In addition, students’ opinions regarding the process indicated that the implementation contributed positively to their learning. In light of the findings obtained, recommendations were made for future research.

The importance of virtual reality in science education is constantly increasing. For this reason, this study aims to identify current trends in science education through virtual reality (VR) themes using a bibliometric analysis of the Web of Science (WoS) database. Data analysis was conducted with VOSviewer software. Findings reveal that VR studies are primarily categorized under “Education Educational Research” and “Education Scientific Disciplines.” VR technology first appeared in science education research in 2002, with publications steadily increasing over time. The most prolific and influential researchers were Lamb, Richard, and Etopio, Elisabeth, while the United States, Australia, and Türkiye had the highest academic impact. The most frequently used keywords were “virtual reality,” “science education,” “augmented reality,” and “higher education,” while recurring abstract terms included “technology,” “knowledge,” and “research.” These results underscore the rising importance of VR technologies in science education and map the evolving research landscape, offering valuable insights for future studies and educational practices.

Bu çalışmanın amacı, fen eğitiminde artırılmış gerçeklik (AG) temaları üzerine mevcut eğilimlerin belirlenmesidir. Bu hedef doğrultusunda, Web of Science (WoS) veri tabanı kullanılarak bir analiz gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bilimsel yenilik alanındaki araştırma eğilimlerini tanımlamak, sistematik bir şekilde haritalamak ve bu alandaki entelektüel ilişkileri ortaya koymak amacıyla bibliyometrik bir yaklaşım benimsenmiş ve VOSviewer yazılımı ile ulaşılan veriler analiz edilmiştir. Bu çalışma kapsamında 107 adet WOS yayını taranıp seçilerek “en fazla akademik çalışmayı yürüten, en fazla atıf alan yazarlar vb..” gibi sorulara yanıt aranmıştır. Elde edilen bulgulara göre, AG konusunda yapılan çalışmaların çoğunlukla ‘Education Educational Research kategorisinde yer aldığı görülmektedir. Fen eğitiminde AG konusu üzerine yapılan çalışmaların 2012 yılında başladığı, öncelikle artan bir eğilimle devam ettiği ve son yıllarda ise tekrar bir azalmanın olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Sıklıkla kullanılan anahtar kelimeler ise sırasıyla 'artırılmış gerçeklik', 'fen eğitimi', 'sanal gerçeklik', 'karma gerçeklik', 'mobil öğrenme' ve 'yükseköğretim'dir. Bir diğer bulgu ise ilgili makalelerin özetlerinde en sık tekrarlanan kelimelerin sırasıyla ‘deneyim’, ‘uygulama’, ‘grup’, ‘bilgi’ ve ‘öğretim’ olduğudur.