DETERMINATION OF SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS OF PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS AND INVESTIGATING IN TERMS OF GENDER AND GRADE LEVEL
FEN BİLGİSİ ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ BİLİMSEL SÜREÇ BECERİLERİNİN BELİRLENEREK CİNSİYET VE SINIF DÜZEYİ BAKIMINDAN İNCELENMESİ

Author : Ayşegül KARAPINAR -- Fatma ŞAŞMAZ ÖREN
Number of pages : 368-385

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the science process skills of pre-service science teachers and their investigating in terms of gender and grade. The study constitutes a survey research conducted with the participation of a total 247 pre-service teachers receiving education in first, second, third and fourth grades at the Celal Bayar University's Faculty of Education during the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic years. A "Science Process Skill Test" was used to determine the scientific process skills of pre-service science teachers during the study. The test (SPST) was developed by Burns, Okey and Wise (1985) in order to measure the development of skills, and translated into Turkish and implemented by Özkan, Aşkar and Geban (1992). Attempt to measure following skills is made with the multiple-choice Science Process Skill Test consisting of 36 questions: recognizing the variables in a problem (12), making operational explanations (6), hypothesizing and defining (9), drawing a graph and interpreting data (6), and designing surveys (3). Kruskall Wallis test and Mann Whitney U-test were used in conjunction with descriptive statistics to analyze data. According to the analysis results, the science process skills of pre-service science teachers were found to be within the "average level" range. When examined in terms of gender, despite the absence of any significant difference in terms of statistics, it is noted that science process skills of female students, in terms of both factor points and total points, are higher in comparison to male students. In terms of another sub-problem, the grade level factor, a significant difference was noted between grade levels and 3rd grade students were found to obtain higher points in comparison to all other grades. Several recommendations were made in relation to the development of science process skills with regard to these conclusions.

Keywords

Science education, science process skill, gender, grade level

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