<b>The Role of Prompt Writing in AI-Supported Teaching: Views of Prospective Science Teachers </b><b></b>

In this research, it was aimed to determine preservice science teachers’ critical thinking dispositions and examine in terms of age, gender and grade level variables. The research was carried out with 178 preservice teachers, registered to Science Education Program at Hasan Ali Yucel College of Education in Istanbul University in the fall semester of 2012-2013 academic year. In the research, Individual Information Form and California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), designed by Facione, Facione & Giancarlo (1998) and adapted to Turkish by Kokdemir were utilized as data collection tools. The data analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 software. According to findings, preservice science teachers’ critical thinking dispositions were established as medium level. However, it was determined that CCTDI-T total and subscale scores did not show significant differences according to age. In terms of gender, there were significant differences in favor of female preservice science teachers in truth- seeking and open-mindedness subscales. In addition, when CCTDI-T total and subscale scores investigated according to grade level, significant differences were determined except inquisitiveness and self-confidence dimensions.

Critical thinking, a core 21st century skill, is needed to effectively explore, analyse, and evaluate problems to be able to find sustainable solutions. Hence, the advocacy for its inclusion in school curricula as part of learning outcomes for students with the universal belief that it fosters academic success. This means teachers should possess the ability to develop critical thinking skills in their students. Thus, teacher education programmes should prepare prospective teachers to acquire the skill to enable them to develop same in their future students. Therefore, this study explored prospective science teachers' awareness of their critical thinking abilities through a survey in a Ghanaian university. The results showed that pre-service science teachers had high levels of awareness of their critical thinking abilities. Although no gender differences were found in the pre-service science teachers' awareness of their critical thinking abilities, the final year students had high levels of awareness as compared to the other students. It was concluded that awareness of critical thinking abilities is ultimately influenced by the university course units earned. Teacher education programmes should consciously develop critical thinking skills among students throughout the programme.

Determination of the Pre-Service Science and Classroom Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Science Teaching and Technology and Relationship Between These Attitudes

Background: the dynamic health care system requires newly graduate nurses who can collect pertinent data, access to resources, prioritize the information, solve the problems, and ultimately make sound clinical decisions .Aim: to study the relationship between clinical decision making with critical thinking dispositions among students ta faculty of nursing in Port-Said University.Subject and Methods:The Research design was a co-relational descriptive design.Setting the study setting was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Port Said University.Subject: Consisted of all (155) nursing students who were regular attendants at the third and fourth academic year at Faculty of Nursing in Port-Said University.Tools of data collection: Two tools were used for data collection.I) Clinical decision making nursing scale.II) California critical thinking disposition inventory.Results: The study results revealed that, the second dimension canvass for objectives and values scored the highest mean (36.26) clinical decision making.The nursing students had high ability in total clinical decision making, while has the highest mean score for critical thinking characteristics was inquisitiveness for nursing students, followed by analyticity among nursing students, as well as followed by self-confidence among nursing students.However, the lowest mean score was in truth seeking for nursing students.Nursing students had a moderate level of the critical thinking disposition .Conclusion: there was no statistical significant correlation between, Critical thinking disposition of nursing student, although there is a statistical significant correlation among some dimensions of these variables.Recommendations: the study recommended that nursing educational programs need to be revised for the inclusion of resources needed to implement critical thinking to nursing students and continuous training for nursing educator and students about CT whether the theory and practice and how to evaluate its dispositions effectively and starting early when student admission.

The purpose of this study is to determine pre-service science teachers’ images and misconceptions about diffusion, allotropy and ionic structure concepts. 68 pre-service science teachers from a public university participated in this study in 2015-2016 academic year. In this qualitative design, worksheets that make teachers draw and explain the concepts about diffusion, allotropy and ionic structure concepts were used as data collecting devices. Content analysis was used for the gathered data. The results of the study showed that preservice science teachers’ images about diffusion, allotropy and ionic structure concepts are insufficient and they have various misconceptions about diffusion, allotropy and ionic structure concepts. Keywords: Image, misconception, diffusion, allotropy, ionic structure.

The purpose of this study was to uncover pre-service science teachers' images and misconceptions regarding atomic orbital and self-ionization concepts. This study involved a total of 68 pre-service science teachers working at a public university during the 2015-2016 academic year. In this qualitative study, data were collated with the use of worksheets that participating teachers completed by drawing and explain the concepts regarding atomic orbital and self-ionization concepts. Collated data were then subject to content analysis. The results of this study showed that participants' images about atomic orbital and self-ionization concepts were insufficient and that pre-service science teachers hold various misconceptions about orbital and self-ionization concepts. The reasons of the misconceptions could be backed by the pre-service science teachers' inadequacy regarding the mental construction of proper images of scientific concepts and as a recommendation of the study applications are required for improving pre-service science teachers' scientific concepts images being aware of their inadequacy.

ABSTRACTThe teaching of socioscientific issues (SSI) holds promise for advancing functional scientific literacy, promoting critical thinking, and providing an interesting context for learning required science content, but few teachers actually employ this teaching method in K–12 classrooms. One common reason cited by teachers is their concern about the controversial aspects of teaching these topics. This study attempts to better understand these tensions by exploring preservice secondary science teachers’ ideas, concerns, and approaches for teaching SSI as they move through a semester-long science methods class that specifically addresses teaching about controversial and SSI. Classroom artifact data and individual interviews were used to explore the science concepts deemed most controversial by preservice secondary science teachers and their preferred approaches for teaching these topics. The findings revealed several topics that are deemed controversial, including evolution, climate change, nuclear energy, and reproduction. Preservice teachers also eagerly adopted the methods course’s discussion strategies for teaching about controversial issues. However, preservice teachers did not distinguish between the appropriateness for using different discussion-based, multiple-perspectives approaches for different types of issues. Specifically, preservice teachers often conflated SSI (societal issues that have both scientific and ethical elements) together with societally denied science for which the teaching is controversial (evolution, anthropogenic causes of climate change). Implications of these findings for methods courses and future research are discussed.

There is a heightened concern over undergraduate students being over‐reliant on Generative AI and using it recklessly. Reliance behaviours describe the frequencies and ways that people use AI tools for tasks such as problem‐solving, influenced by individual factors such as trust and AI literacy. One way to conceptualise reliance is that reliance behaviours are affected by the extent to which learners consciously evaluate the relative performance of AI and humans, suggesting the potential impacts of critical thinking on reliance. This study, thus, empirically investigates the relationship between critical thinking and reliance behaviours. Critical thinking includes disposition and skills. However, limited empirical studies have investigated how critical thinking influences learners' reliance behaviours when solving problems with Generative AI. Hence, the current study conducted path analyses to investigate how critical thinking is associated with reliance behaviours and how it mediates the effect of individual factors on reliance behaviours. We collected 808 survey responses on critical thinking disposition and skills, reliance behaviours (a self‐developed and validated scale, including reflective use, cautious use, thoughtless use, and collaborative use), trust towards AI, and AI literacy from undergraduates after a problem‐solving task with Generative AI. The results indicate that (1) critical thinking is positively associated with the collaborative, reflective, and cautious use of Generative AI, suggesting that these three types of use of Generative AI could be considered desirable behaviours in human–AI problem‐solving; (2) trust positively predicts thoughtless use; (3) critical thinking can offset the influence of trust on collaborative, reflective and cautious use; and (4) critical thinking can amplify the influence of AI literacy on reflective, cautious and collaborative use. This study contributes new insights into understanding the role of critical thinking in fostering desirable reliance behaviours, including reflective, cautious and collaborative use, and provides implications for future interventions when applying Generative AI for problem‐solving. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic? Generative AI tools can potentially enhance problem‐based learning (PBL) by supporting brainstorming and solution refinement. Reliance behaviours in human‐AI collaboration are influenced by factors such as trust in AI and AI literacy. Strategy‐graded reliance emphasizes the reasoning process leading to reliance behaviours, focusing on thoughtful engagement with AI tools, and this cognitive process can be captured by critical thinking. What this paper adds? Critical thinking is positively associated with the reflective, collaborative, and cautious use of Generative AI. Critical thinking mediates the effects of trust and AI literacy on reliance behaviours, amplifying reflective, cautious and collaborative use while mitigating the thoughtless use of Generative AI. The study introduces a nuanced understanding of reliance behaviours by applying a strategy‐graded framework, emphasising cognitive engagement rather than a purely outcome‐based understanding of reliance behaviours. Implications for practice and/or policy Educational interventions could consider critical thinking when integrating AI tools in problem‐solving contexts. Students' trust in AI needs to be balanced with critical thinking skills to reduce overreliance and enhance thoughtful engagement with AI tools.

The study aims to examine science teachers' and pre-service science teachers' metaphors about learning, teaching, and teacher concepts and compare their metaphors. The study is designed according to phenomenology research design. The study participants consisted of 62 in-service science teachers working in government schools and 45 pre-service science teachers attending a government university’s science teaching department. The data was collected during the 2017-2018 academic year. The participants were requested to fill in the blanks of three statements: "Learning is like…..; because …….", "Teaching is like…..; because…….", "Teacher is like….; because……". The results displayed that teachers and pre-service teachers generally have different meaning categories. While teachers expressed the concept of “teacher,” they took their own experiences and professional lives into consideration since they are actively working as teachers. On the other hand, pre-service teachers expressed their own teachers and their behaviors while defining the concept of “teacher.” Similarly, when we take a look at the results related to the concept of “student,” while teachers started off with the children they taught, pre-service teachers talked about their own experiences since they are students.

The aim of this study was to investigate pre-service science teachers’ development of the quality of written arguments using science writing heuristic approach and pre-service science teachers’ views about the science writing heuristic and its argument components in a General Biology Laboratory Course II. The study was carried out with 21 sophomore pre-service science teachers enrolled at a public university. A case study design was used and eight science writing heuristic approach experiments were implemented over 14 weeks. Data included a grading rubric to analyze pre-service science teachers’ written arguments and a survey to explore their views about the science writing heuristic approach and its components. Data gathered from the grading rubric were analyzed using ANOVA and data gathered from the survey were analyzed using content analysis. The results of the ANOVA analysis indicated that the quality of pre-service science teachers’ argumentative writing significantly increased over time. The survey results highlighted that the science writing heuristic approach increased pre-service science teachers’ research skills and contributed to their permanent learning. Moreover, the pre-service science teachers were able to make connections between components of the science writing heuristic approach and claim, evidence and reflection components were the most useful and challenging components.

The purposes of this study are, i) to determine pre-service science teachers’ views about technology. ii) to examine whether the pre-service science teachers’ views about technology change depending on gender, level of the class being educated or not. In the study, survey was used as a research method. The application was conducted among preservice science teachers of st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes in one of the well-established universities of Turkey in 2011-2012 Academic Year spring term (N=313). The Views Questionnaire Related to Technology developed by the researcher was used to gain data. The findings show that; i) the pre-service science teachers usually have positive views about technology. ii) No significant difference was seen in pre-service science teachers’ views related to technology, depending on gender. A significant difference was seen in pre-service science teachers’ views related to technology according to the level of class educated

Water is a vital resource for sustainable development. The aim of this research was to develop and evaluate pre-service science teachers’ awareness of sustainable water usage. This research was based on a mixed method. The qualitative part of the research was based on a single group pretest-posttest experimental design, and the qualitative data were collected by open-ended questions. The quantitative data were obtained through the“Water Knowledge Test”,“Water Consumption Behavior Scale” and “Water Attitude Scale”, which were developed by the researcher. The study group consisted of 3rd year pre-service science teachers who were studying during the 2011-2012 academic year at EskiAŸehir Osmangazi University. Water education for the study group was provided by the researcher for 5 weeks. Quantitative data were analyzed using a t-test for dependent groups, and qualitative data were examined by descriptive analysis. Following the water awareness education, a significant difference was found in the pre-service science teachers’ water knowledge, water consumption behavior and attitudes toward water (p<.05). The results of the qualitative data showed that the majority of pre-service science teachers had increased concerns about adequate water supply. Most of them experienced increased awareness and to use water more carefully. In addition, 24 of the 33 pre-service science teachers believed that future generations will experience water related problems in 20 or 30 years. The results showed that water education is effective in developing a level of water knowledge, and influencing pre-service science teachers’ water consumption behavior and attitudes toward water. Key words: Water awareness, sustainable water consumption, water education, pre-service science teacher.

The use of VR-based OERs in STEM education has the potential to enhance teaching and learning by making it more immersive and interactive. Despite their increased availability in higher education, there is limited understanding of how these resources support pre-service life science teachers' subject knowledge and pedagogical skills. This study examined the reflections of 13 pre-service life science teachers on VR learning experiences using Human Anatomy VR software, guided by Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT). Through focus group discussions, VR interaction screenshots and eye-tracking data, the study provided qualitative insights into how VR enhanced their understanding of life science topics and reshaped their teaching perspectives. Four key themes emerged: i) immersive engagement with subject knowledge; ii) development of digital pedagogical competencies; iii) evolving perceptions towards VR integration; and iv) challenges such as motion sickness. The study underscores the benefits of VR in improving content mastery and digital teaching skills, offering valuable insights for curriculum developers and policymakers in STEM teacher education. Future research is suggested to explore VR applications in mathematics, physical science, and rural education.

In this study, we aimed to investigate pre-service math and science teachers during teaching practicum course by analyzing daily journals shared in a web-based environment. 65 seniors participated in the study (41 pre-service math teachers and 24 pre-service science teachers). Within qualitative case study approach, the study focused on descriptive and content analysis during the data analysis. By looking at the findings of the study, pre-service math teachers provided more details in discussing the teaching methods and emphasizing on lesson preparations compared to pre-service science teachers. On the other hand, pre-service science teachers included more specific activity examples than did pre-service math teachers in their daily journal entries. Another important finding of the study showed that pre-service teachers tended to evaluate themselves and their friends positively, but negatively criticized their teachers. In light of these findings, we recommend offering teaching practicum course when pre-service teachers take their theoretical courses.

ObjectivesThe aim of this research was to analyse if the level of health literacy (HL) of nursing students changes throughout the study programme.DesignA cross-sectional study with anonymous self-reporting was conducted.Participants/setting329...