Investigation of the science literacy levels and science learning skills of classroom teacher candidates

In this research, it was aimed to determine the science literacy levels and science learning skills of prospective classroom teachers and to determine their relationship with each other. The research is quantitative research and a descriptive survey model was used. The study group in the research consists of 202 classroom teacher candidates from different grade levels who are studying in the undergraduate program of Kastamonu University, Department of Basic Education in the fall semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. In the study, the "Basic Science Literacy Test", consisting of 49 items developed by Laugksch and Spargo (1996) and translated into Turkish by Duruk (2012), was used to determine the science literacy levels of classroom teacher candidates, and Chang et al.'s test was used to determine science learning skills. "Science Learning Skills Scale", consisting of 29 items developed by Şenler (2011) and translated into Turkish by Şenler (2014), was applied. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS-27 program. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the science literacy levels and science learning skills of the primary school teacher candidates were high, and that there was no significant difference according to the variables of gender, grade level, publication or magazine following, place of residence and the type of high school they graduated from. In the study, a significant difference in favor of the urban area was obtained in the "nature of science" sub-dimension, which is the sub-dimension of the science literacy scale, and in the "communication" sub-dimension, which is the sub-dimension of the science learning skill scale. It was concluded that there was a low-level, positive and significant relationship between the science literacy levels of classroom teacher candidates and their science learning skills.