The investigation of the preferences of pre-service science teachers to create constructivist learning environment in terms of some variables

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between pre-service science teachers' preferences to create constructivist learning environment, their learning styles, gender and class levels. In this research, relational screening method which is one of the quantitative research methods general screening models, was used. The sample of the study consists of 140 pre-service science teachers from Abant İzzet Baysal University who study in the Department of Elementary Science Education in Faculty of Education. In order to determine pre-service science teachers' future preferences to create constructivist learning environment, the constructivist learning environment scale (CLES); developed by Taylor and Fraser (1997) which was adapted to Turkish by Aydın, Boz, Sungur and Çetin (2012); was used. To determine learning preferences. Grasha-Riechmann Learning Styles Scale (1994), which was developed by Grasha-Riechmann (1994) and adapted to Turkish by Uzuntiryaki, Bilgin and Geban (2003), was used. According to the obtained data, it is determined that the lowest mean of the CLES scale belonged to the sub-dimension of learning about science, while the highest average is related to learning sub-dimension of the world. When the pre-service teachers' dominant learning styles is examined, it is seen that the most dependent style and the least style is avoiding style. When the preferences of pre-service science teachers in constructivist learning environment are examined according to gender, it is found that female students have higher averages than male efor all sub-dimensions of constructivist learning environment. When the preferences of the pre-service science teachers' constructivist learning environment is evaluated in terms of grade levels, it is observed that the average scores decreased as the grade level increases. In addition, a significant difference is found in favor of first class in "Learning about science" and "Learning to learn" sub-dimensions. Keywords: Constructivist Learning Environment, Learning Styles, Science Education