An investigation of problem-solving skills of preservice science teachers

Advancements in science and technology have created problems for some people who have difficulties adapting to the new environment. Improving problem solving skills of these people is very important for them to so have the ability to cope with new problems. From the education perspective, it is believed that teachers should help students by not only giving them information on how to solve certain problems but also how to assimilate problem solving skills. Teachers should first and foremost have these problem solving skills so that they can help their students. In this context, the aim of the current work is to study pre-service science teachers’ problem-solving skills and to determine the effect of science teacher training program on pre-service science teachers’ problem solving skills based on their grade levels. 76 freshmen, 81 sophomores, 117 juniors and 69 seniors (that is, 343 pre-service science teachers in total) of the Department of Science Teacher Education in 2012 to 2013 academic year participated in this study. In order to measure their problem solving skills, problem solving inventory (PSI) which was developed by Heppner and Petersen and adapted into Turkish by Şahin, Şahin and Heppner was used. In the data analysis procedure, One-Way ANOVA was used to determine whether there is any statistically significant difference among grades, scores of problem solving skills, and its dimensions. According to the findings, significant differences were found between sophomores and juniors; and also between sophomores and seniors. As for the sub dimensions, there was only found a significant difference according to “impulsive style” and “avoidant style” dimensions among grades

Fen öğretmen adaylarının bilimsel süreç becerileri ile bilimsel araştırmaya yönelik tutumlarının incelenmesi

Tüm bireylerin bilim okuryazarı olarak yetişmesini amaçlayan Fen Bilimleri Dersi Öğretim Programı’nın temel amaçlarından biri, doğanın keşfedilmesi ve insan-çevre arasındaki ilişkinin anlaşılması sürecinde, bireylerin bilimsel süreç becerilerini ve bilimsel araştırma yaklaşımını benimseyip sorunlara çözüm üretmesini sağlamaktır. Bu bağlamda araştırmada, fen öğretmen adaylarının bilimsel süreç becerileri ile bilimsel araştırmaya yönelik tutumlarının incelenmesi ve ikisi arasındaki ilişkinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Nicel araştırma yöntemlerinden ilişkisel tarama modelinin kullanıldığı araştırmanın örneklemini, ege bölgesindeki bir eğitim fakültesinde üçüncü sınıfta öğrenim gören 95 fen öğretmen adayı oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak “Bilimsel Süreç Beceri Testi (BSBT)” ve “Bilimsel Araştırmaya Yönelik Tutum Ölçeği (BATÖ)” kullanılmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında elde edilen veriler, SPSS (Versiyon 20.0) kullanılarak analiz edilmiş, betimsel istatistik yöntemlerinin yanı sıra BSBT ve BATÖ arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi için korelasyon katsayısı hesaplanmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen veriler sonucunda, fen öğretmen adaylarının bilimsel süreç becerileri ile bilimsel araştırmaya yönelik tutumları asında olumlu yönde bir ilişki olduğu tespit edilmiştir

Dijital ve medya etkinliklerinin ortaokul öğrencilerinin ve ebeveynlerinin medya ve bilim okuryazarlıklarına etkisinin belirlenmesi

Bu araştırmada dijital ve medya etkinliklerinin ortaokul öğrencilerinin ve ebeveynlerinin bilim okuryazarlığı ve medya okuryazarlığına etkisini tespit etmek ve bu ikisi arasındaki ilişkinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmada nicel verilerin kullanıldığı tek grup üzerinde ön-son test çalışmalarının yapıldığı yarı deneysel model kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini 2013-2014 eğitim-öğretim yılında Bursa iline bağlı bir okulda öğrenim görmekte olan 60 öğrenci ve 119 ebeveyn oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmadan elde edilen verilerin analizlerine göre, dijital ve medya etkinlikleri ortaokul öğrencilerinin ve ebeveynlerin bilimsel okuryazarlık ön testleri ve son testleri arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmaktadır. Öğrencilerin ve ebeveyn olarak annelerin medya ve bilim okuryazarlık düzeyleri arasında bir ilişki bulunmaktadır. Uygulanan PISA ve TIMSS sınavları ile öğrencilerin bilim okuryazarlıkları arasında bir farka rastlanmıştır. Bulunan bu sonuçlar ışığında, 21. yy becerileri okuryazarlıklarının öneminin vurgulanması ve bilim ve medya okuryazarlık düzeylerinin geliştirilmesi ve daha kapsamlı sonuçlar elde edilmesi hususunda bazı öneriler sunulmuştur

An investigation of pre-service science teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge

In order to reflect the integration of the teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technology usage skills to the class context and to provide the expected outputs for the program's purposes, it is needed to be revealed the different dimensions of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). In this study, it was aimed to investigate the teacher training programmes related to pre-service science teachers’ TPACK. This study was designed as a cross-sectional study. In the 2015-2016 academic year, a total of 269 pre-service teachers (73 of them from 1st grade, 73 of them from 2nd grade, 87 of them from 3rd and 36 of them from 4th grade students) attending Science Education Department participated in this study. As a data collection tool, 7 subscales of “Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale of Pre-Service Teachers”; namely, technology knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge were used. According to the results, as the class level of pre-service teacher increases, their level of technological pedagogical content knowledge increases as well. Moreover, there is a significant difference on behalf of pre-service teachers at the 1st grade in all dimensions of technological pedagogical content knowledge scale

Hermeneutic perspectives of pre-service science teachers about science

Science education emphasizes the development of individuals’ ability to make comments, reasoning, and critical reflection while expressing their scientific thoughts. In this sense, future science teachers have great responsibility to develop those skills of the learners and their meaningful learning. Many researches emphasize hermeneutical thinking for disciplines such as mathematics and science to create meaningful learning. The current research aimed to reveal pre-service science teachers’ hermeneutical perspectives about science and to determine their existing ideas. For this aim, scientific problems presented to pre-service science teachers via scenarios, and how they developed their approaches to solve these problems, and whether they used hermeneutics in this process were examined. The hermeneutical perspectives of pre-service teachers were selected as a single case -by using qualitative research method- to have a deep understanding of their hermeneutical perspectives. The research group consisted of nine third-year-students. Semi-structured interviews prepared by the researchers were applied before and after the intervention in the research conducted for 14 weeks in Science Teaching Laboratory Applications-I course. The data were analysed by a descriptive analysis method. It has been evidenced that science-related hermeneutical perspectives of the pre-service science teachers have developed as a result of the problem-based scenario studies

The effect of project-based science education programme on scientific process skills and conceptions of kindergarten students

The research aims to find out the effect of project-based science education programme conducted with an active learning on scientific process skills and conceptions of 6-year-old children about nature of science. Quasi-experimental research design including experimental and control groups with pre-test and post-test was implemented. Mixed-method research including qualitative and quantitative data collection tools was adopted. The quantitative data were collected with Preschool Scientific Process Skills Scale while qualitative data were gathered with interviews to define scientific process skills of children. The research includes 26 children in total, 17 were in the experimental group and 9 were in the control group. Project Based Science Education Conducted with Active Learning was carried out on the experimental group and Project Based Science Education was carried out on the control group. The research lasted for 32 weeks between October, 2015 and June, 2016. Scores of scientific process skills about nature of science belonging to students in the experimental group were found to be higher than ones in the control group and the students in the experimental group were found to be more familiar with the related conceptions. The findings prove the positive effect of projectbased science education

The Effects of Using Creative Drama in Science Education on Students\' Achievements and Scientific Process Skills

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of creative drama-based instruction on fifth graders’ science achievements in the light and sound unit and scientific process skills. This quasi-experimental research was conducted in one of the public elementary schools in Turkey during 2009-2010 academic year. A light and sound achievement test was developed and administered to randomly selected 60 students. The experimental group was instructed through creative drama-based implications and the control group was never exposed to creative drama. An instruction material including five lesson plans was constructed for the leader to administer creative drama-based instruction. The unit was instructed to each group for three weeks. A science achievement test and a scientific process skills test were administered to each group as pre-post test. An independent sample t-test revealed that there were significant differences in the means of creative drama applications, science achievement and scientific process skill