Opinions of Prospective Primary School Teachers about Methods and Techniques Suitable for Teaching Science: A Case Study from Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine opinions of a group of prospective Turkish primary school teachers aboutwhat teaching methods and techniques are more suitable to teach science. In addition, their perceived competence inselection of teaching methods and techniques was explored. In Turkey, primary school teachers offer various coursesin the first four years of primary education. Their ability to benefit from teaching methods and techniques suitable forsubjects and courses is considered important in terms of realization of learning. The study was also directed towardsexamining whether third-year university students having taken courses for methods and techniques used to teachdifferent subjects felt competent about selection of suitable methods and techniques.This is a case study using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data were gathered withPerceived Competence Scale for Selection of Teaching Methods and Techniques for Prospective Teachers,developed by Durdukoca et al. (2017). Qualitative data were collected through an open-ended question “Whatteaching methods and techniques do you think you want to use in the future”. All the participants answered thisopen-ended question and completed the scale. Data obtained through the open ended-question were analyzed withcontent analysis.The study sample included 96 third-year students studying in the Department of Primary Education in BucaEducation Faculty of Dokuz Eylül University in the spring term of the 2017-2018 academic year. Quantitative datawere analyzed with SPSS v. 22 and t-test.The prospective primary school teachers were found to plan to use student-centered methods and techniques and tohave high perceived competence concerning selection of teaching methods and techniques. Their perceivedcompetence did not differ between genders and students with different academic performance. Only having apositive perception of competence significantly differed between branches of students.