The effects of project-supported education about food production on teacher candidates’ systems thinking skills

Abstract

Systems thinking is the interactive working of interconnected parts for a specific purpose. Global food production processes include sustainability, economics, engineering, nature and social dimensions. In this respect, it is important to develop the systems thinking skills of teacher candidates. This study aimed to examine the effect of project-supported education on the system thinking skills of teacher candidates on food production. A mixed research design and single-group pre-test-post-test experimental design were used in the research. The data were obtained from the systems thinking skill test, open-ended questions and concept maps. The quantitative study group of the research consisted of 100, and the qualitative study group consisted of 30 science teacher candidates. It was found that there was a significant difference between the system skill test pre-test and post-test. The concept maps developed by the teacher candidates were evaluated in terms of their level of understanding of the system's structure, function and behaviour and whether they could establish a link between the sectors related to food production. In the research, it was found that systems thinking skill tests and concept maps were effective in detecting systems thinking skills. The most important finding in this study was understanding the interdependence of systems, which is the most basic feature of ST.