The Level of Knowledge and Opinions of Science Teacher Candidates on Safety Measurements in General Chemistry Laboratory Studies

Nuriye Kocak

doi:10.11114/jets.v7i11.4378

Abstract

In general chemistry laboratories of universities, faculty members and students work with chemicals and devices and they are exposed to various risks. For this reason, it is of great importance whether teacher candidates are who are the teachers of future are adequately equipped in terms of laboratory safety or not. This study was conducted on teacher candidates who participated in General Chemistry Laboratory practices in Science Teacher Education program and their opinions and knowledge levels about laboratory safety were investigated. In the study, teacher candidates were informed about the necessary precautions while working in a general chemistry laboratory in 4 courses. Then, in order to increase the awareness and responsibility of the students via the information that taught in courses, the General Chemistry Laboratory Safety questionnaire form given in the appendix was applied. The questionnaire form developed for laboratory safety was applied to 81 teacher candidates. According to the results obtained from the study, it has been found out that teacher candidates mostly find the general chemistry laboratory safety important and understand the importance of information about safety. SPSS 13.0 was used to analyze the consequences of the survey.

Highlights

Because of the rapid development of the world with developing modern technology and science, the primary target of the societies should be to produce an information society that produces knowledge and technology, researches and has a scientific thinking structure
In the first part of the questionnaire, first question addressed to teacher candidates was; “Do you find the general chemistry laboratory safety important?” and 96% (N = 78) of the teacher candidates expressed that they found the subject of general chemistry laboratory safety important while 4% (N = 3) of them stated that they did not find it important
Second question was addressed to teacher candidates as “What is your knowledge level about general chemistry laboratory safety?” and 12.3% (N = 10) of teacher candidates stated that they did not have information, % 56.8 (N = 46) of them stated that they had some information and %30.9 (N=25) of them stated that they had information about general chemical laboratory safety (Table 1.)

Summary

Introduction

Because of the rapid development of the world with developing modern technology and science, the primary target of the societies should be to produce an information society that produces knowledge and technology, researches and has a scientific thinking structure. The most significant step in the formation of an information society is to educate the new generations in a manner that they can adapt to the changes and developments This can only be possible by planning student-centered teaching environments where there is mostly learning by practicing and experiencing. One of the teaching environments in which learning by practicing and experiencing takes place is chemistry labs, laboratory classes are considered to be an important part of the curriculum (Walters et al, 2017). Safety measures are taken not to limit practical work but to ensure those studies are conducted in a safe manner (Yılmaz & Morgil, 1999)

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Conclusion