Examination of Social Studies Teacher Candidates’ Study Approaches

Abstract

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: Received 05.10.2015 Received in revised form 01.12.2015 Accepted 09.12.2015 Available online 24.03.2016 The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine social studies teacher candidates’ study approaches. The study data was obtained from 257 social studies teacher candidates from all grade levels studying in Social Studies Education Department of Gazi University’s Faculty of Education during the 2014-1015 academic year. Descriptive survey model was used in the study. “Personal Information Form” and “Study Approach Scale” originally developed by Biggs, Kember and Leung (2001) and adapted into Turkish by Yilmaz and Orhan (2011) were used as data collection tools. The data obtained in the study was analyzed using the IBM SPSS21.0 software. Furthermore, for the data analysis of the independent samples t-test and one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) were used. The study results showed a significant difference in the teacher candidates’ study approaches in terms of gender. However, there was no significant difference in terms of accommodation of the students, suitability of their study environment and their grade level. © 2016 IOJES. All rights reserved