Investigation of the relationship between 21-st century skills and academic achievement of teacher candidates by structural equation modeling

The aim of this study is to examine the relations between critical thinking tendency, problem solving skills, creative thinking tendency, and lifelong learning tendency which are the 21st century skills of teacher candidates with academic achievements through the structural equation model. The survey data were collected from 493 teacher candidates who are studying at Ankara University, Faculty of Educational Sciences. The scales which are used in the research are "Critical Thinking Tendency Scale", "Problem Solving Skills Scale", "Marmara Creative Thinking Tendency Scale", "Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale". In the scope of the research, the status of the relevant variables was examined according to gender, grade level, and department of study through the independent samples t test and the one way ANOVA. The relations between critical thinking tendency, problem solving skills, creative thinking tendency, and lifelong learning tendency of teacher candidates and their academic achievements; In line with the proposed model, were examined through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Following the research, it has been concluded that the lifelong learning tendency of teacher candidates become different significantly according to gender, grade level, and department of study. The proposed model of the relationship between teacher candidates 21st century skills and academic achievement has been validated. According to the proposed model; lifelong learning tendency predict the academic achievement positively, at a low level. Critical thinking tendency, problem solving skills, creative thinking tendency, and lifelong learning tendency explain 4.3% of the academic achievement.