The aim of this research is to reveal the levels of understanding of student science teachers regarding the digestive system. In this research, 116 student science teachers were tested by applying ...the drawing method. Upon the analysis of the drawings they made, it was found that some of them had misconceptions such as "the organs of the digestive system have no relationships with each other" and "it is an open-ended structure by which oral nutrients arrive at the stomach". Additionally, it was concluded that some of them had insufficient knowledge. The importance of the findings was analysed in detail in the light of literature information. Suggestions for how to eliminate these problems were provided.
As a result of human beings' activities to dominate nature and transform it for their own benefit as they continue to advance in science and technology, environmental problems such as climate change ...have become the biggest threat faced by the biosphere in the current century. One of the biggest problems of humanity today is the scarcity of water resources. It is important to reveal the meanings attributed to the concept of water in biology textbooks in order to identify and eliminate the deficiencies or gaps between the concepts related to the subject. The main purpose of this study is to analyze how the concept of water is presented in secondary school biology textbooks. In line with this purpose, answers to the following questions were sought: What biological concepts is water associated with in biology textbooks and how often is it used? Under which categories can the concept of water be classified in biology textbooks? In the study, document analysis was conducted on four biology textbooks published by the Ministry of National Education to be taught in high schools in the 2023-2024 academic year. A qualitative methodology based on inductive logic was used to analyze the data. How water is emphasized in biology textbooks was discussed, and categories were developed to conceptualize explanations about water. These categories were: water as a substance in the structure of organisms, water as a habitat for organisms, water as a substance involved in chemical reactions, water as a human health factor, water as an essential requirement for organisms, water as an environmental problem factor and water as a scarcity factor. According to the results of the textbook content analysis, it was seen that the relationships between water and health concepts in the category of water as a human health factor were well structured. In the study, it was seen that the concept of water was presented in accordance with the target achievements in line with the secondary school biology course curriculum and that the key concepts were given literally. However, it was revealed that the concept of water in textbooks should be structured according to the principles of the systems thinking approach.
Purpose: Awareness of the interaction between science, technology, society, and environment (STSE) is seen as important in life in the modern world. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the ...science teacher candidates' views on relations between science, technology, society, and environment. Research Methods: In this research, which used the phenomenographic study method, the data were obtained through drawings and interviews. The participants in this research consisted of 145 volunteer students who were studying in science teaching at a state university in Turkey during the 2018-2019 academic years. Content analysis and descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze the obtained data. Findings: Research findings revealed that science teacher candidates' understanding regarding STSE was the superficial correlation of these four concepts with each other. The majority of science teacher candidates had partial information and image of STSE. Science teacher candidates predominantly made drawings and expressed opinions regarding the negative effects of technology on society and environment and negative effects of humans on the environment. In addition, it was observed that the concepts of socioscientific issues, the nature of science and sustainable development were emerged implicitly in the drawings and views of some of the science teacher candidates regarding the STSE. Implications for Research and Practice: In the light of these results, it can be suggested to organize learning environments where the STSE relationship can be learned more deeply by science teacher candidates. It can be recommended to develop sustainable development awareness within the scope of STSE.
The aim of this research is to investigate student science teachers’ opinions about the causes of degradation of ecosystems and the effects of such degradations on the environment. This research ...focuses on the following questions: What kind of descriptions do student science teachers ascribe to the reasons of degradation in ecosystems? What are the effects of ecosystem degradations on the environment? What are the misconceptions in relation to degradations in ecosystems? A total of 130 participating students, who were studying to become science teachers at Faculty of Education of Necmettin Erbakan University in Turkey, participated in this study. To reveal the participating students’ opinions about the reasons for degradations in ecosystems and their effects on the environment, they were asked to answer two open questions: (1) What are the reasons for degradations in ecosystems? (2) What are the effects of degradations in ecosystems on the environment? The participants were asked to answer these two questions. Data obtained from the questions were analyzed and the frequencies of the answers were classified in different categories. Moreover, these included some misconceptions such as ‘the greenhouse effect can lead to skin cancer’ and ‘ozone layer depletion leads to global warming’. The findings are compared with related literature and suggestions are presented.
The aim of this article was to study the concepts and thoughts of primary education students about dangerous animals. A total of 316 primary education students attending a primary school in Turkey ...participated in the study. The research data was obtained through open-ended questions and word association tests. Data obtained from the questions directed at the students were analysed one-by-one. As the students made many associations, words of the same or similar meaning were coded together. Associations encountered less than three times, and those that could not be coded with the others, were removed. Certain categories were formed according to relationships of meaning, and the usage frequency of the words in each category was calculated quantitatively. As a result of the analysis of the data, it was found that students considered the features that make animals dangerous include: being venomous, having a large size, being vicious and wild, and also being sneaky. Furthermore, students think that vertebrate animals are more dangerous than invertebrates. They are not sufficiently aware of significantly dangerous small and harmful invertebrates that can cause death. Furthermore, it has been observed that the students have significantly insufficient knowledge and alternative concepts of animals such as snakes, scorpions, spiders and centipedes. In the light of these results, suggestions have been developed. (Contains 7 tables.)
The purpose of this study is to investigate biology student teachers’ conceptions of learning. This study focuses on the following question: How do biology student teachers conceptualize the term ...“learning”? A total of 86 biology students, who were studying to become secondary biology teachers at the education faculty of a university in Turkey, participated in this study. To reveal participating students’ conceptions of learning they were asked to answer the open-ended question: “What is learning?”. Data obtained from the question was analyzed and the frequencies of the responses were classified in six categories. The results of this study have shown that the variation of participating students’ conceptions of learning includes all of six conceptions of learning identified originally by Marton et al. (1993). Participants focused mainly on the conceptions of learning as the increase of knowledge and learning as the acquisition of facts or procedures. These results are compared with related literature and recommendations are provided.
In this study, student science teachers' ideas and views of endangered bird species and their protection are analysed. 173 student science teachers studying at Selcuk University in the department of ...science education, participated in the study. Data analysis provides evidence that the majority of students thought that human intervention is required to protect endangered birds. Student teachers gave their opinions relating to hunting prohibitions, preventing pollution and protecting the environment and appropriate environmental possibilities for reproduction of bird species. Literature on the subject has been scanned, results have been discussed, and some recommendations relating to protection of endangered bird species have been made. (Contains 3 tables.)
The purpose of this study is to investigate science student teachers’ ideas about the ‘gene’ concept. This study focuses on the following questions: What kind of descriptions do science student ...teachers ascribe to gene? What categories can be derived from these descriptions in terms of common features? A total of 140 participating students, who were studying to become primary science teachers at the Ahmet Kelesoglu Faculty of Education of Selcuk University in Turkey, participated in this study. To reveal participating students’ ideas about the ‘gene’ concept they were asked to respond two open questions: (1) What is a gene in your opinion? (2) The participating students were asked to complete a free word association test. In the test, the term ‘gene’ was presented as a stimulus word. Data obtained from the questions were analyzed and the frequencies of the responses were classified in different categories. The results are compared with related literature and recommendations are provided.
The purpose of this study is to determine the alternative conceptions of elementary school pre-service science teachers regarding DNA and DNA technologies. The questions asked in the study related to ...subjects including the structure and role of DNA molecule, structure of genes, some genetic technologies, Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) plants, etc. The important finding of the study revealed that a majority of the pre-service teachers were not aware of the discovery date of DNA molecule. When the pre-service teachers were asked to write down names of GMOs and GM drugs, 92% didn't respond. A few of the pre-service teachers gave examples including banana, corn and tomato. (Contains 2 tables.)
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