Pre-service chemistry teachers' thoughts on the Science Writing Heuristic approach in upper secondary education chemistry experiments

This study aims to evaluate the experiences of pre-service chemistry teachers regarding the implementation of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach in secondary school chemistry experiments. The research was conducted with senior-year students enrolled in the chemistry teacher education program at the Necatibey Faculty of Education, Balıkesir University. The study group was determined using criterion sampling, one of the purposive sampling methods, and the opinions of the prospective teachers who experienced the implementation were evaluated at the end of the process. The data collection process consisted of three phases. In the first phase, the chemistry experiments to be conducted by the participants were identified, and a pre-semester lesson plan was prepared based on the national chemistry textbook used in science high schools. In the second phase, the prospective teachers carried out the experiments within the context of the "Laboratory Practices in Chemistry Teaching" course, completing all stages including pre-experiment preparation, implementation, and post-experiment reflection. In the final phase, an open-ended questionnaire was administered to collect participants' opinions, and semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with selected students. As a data collection tool, a written response form consisting of 13 open-ended questions was developed and used. In addition, individual interviews were held with six prospective teachers selected through purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using content analysis, and the findings were categorized through thematic coding and presented in tables. The results of the study reveal that the SWH approach had positive effects on participants' skills in scientific thinking, written argumentation, and planning laboratory practices.