Evaluation of the teaching process of nature of science which is designed with a multiple intelligence perspective, in terms of the pre-service teachers' various achievements and views

The study was carried out to determine how the nature of science teaching, which was designed with a multiple intelligence perspective, affected the various achievements and views of pre-service science teachers. In this sense, the effect of teaching the nature of science, on the multiple intelligence areas of pre-service science teachers, their understanding of the nature of science and their self-efficacy was investigated; views of pre-service science teachers regarding the teaching process were taken. The method of the study is mixed research where quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together. Single group pretest-posttest experimental design was used in accordance with quantitative research method. This study was conducted with 3rd grade undergraduates during 2017-2018 spring semester at Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Department of Science Education. The study group composed of 62 pre-service science teachers with 50 females and 12 males. Quantitative data in the study were obtained from 62 pre-service science teachers, through "Multiple Intelligence Inventory" developed by Saban (2002), and "The Self-efficacy Scale for the Nature and Teaching of Science" developed by Kubilay (2014). In addition, qualitative data were collected from 31 pre-service science teachers and 10 pre-service science teachers through a semi-structured interview form through the "Views about the Nature of Science (VANS) Questionnaire" translated Turkish by Mıhladız (2010) prepared by Aikenhead, Ryan and Fleming (1989). The quantitative data of the study were analyzed properly using SPSS 22 statistical package program and the qualitative data were analyzed with the method of descriptive analysis. As a result of the study, the nature of science, which was designed from a multiple intelligence perspective, it was found a significant difference between pre-test and post-test results in the "multiple intelligence inventory" of pre-service science teachers and "self-efficacy questionnaire on teaching the nature of science". A significant improvement was found in favor of the contemporary view in the pre-service teachers' understanding of the nature of science which is designed with a multiple ıntelligence perspective. Increase in the contemporary (realistic) view was determined at the following items contained by the nature of science survey: "Effect of Society on Science", "The Impact of Science on Society", "Social Structure of Scientific Knowledge", "Nature of Classification Order". In this respect, the activities related to the nature of science give an understanding of the nature of modern science in many subjects, however it was found that there were pre-service science teachers who adopted the naive view as well as the contemporary view in the "hypotheses, theories and laws" item. In conclusion, the study showed that nature of science instruction with multiple intelligence perspective has remarkable improvements on pre-service science teachers' multiple intelligence modalities, understandings of nature of science, and self-efficacies on teaching nature of science subject. Pre-service science teachers stated that the nature of science instruction with multiple intelligence perspective gave them the ability to interpret the teaching process, increased participation in the course, corrected their existing misconceptions while taught new concepts, as well as scientists who is not known before. They also remarked that the instruction made them aware that group works strengthened their communication skills, showed them new perspectives and helped them to develop a sense of empathy.