The effect of research and inquiry based learning approach on the cognitive and affective skills of prospective primary school teachers

Advances in science and technology in the changing and developing world and the struggles of countries to keep up with these developments have led to new approaches in the field of education. New approaches in science teaching ask students to learn, to question themselves and to take responsibility for their own learning. The vision of the Science Education Curriculum is to train individuals for Science Literacy. In the context of this vision, the basis of the program is inquiry-based learning in relation to constructivism. The Science Education Curriculum emphasizes that inquiry-based learning is not only about learning the subject but also an individual who can discover different ways to reach scientific thinking. For these reasons, the subject of this study was determined as inquiry-based teaching. In this research, in the context of the Science Teaching Laboratory Practices I course included in the 2nd grade course programs of the Primary School Teacher Education Program, it is aimed that inquiry-based learning activities related to chemistry are developed and to investigate the effectiveness of these activities on pre-service teachers' research and inquiry, scientific process skills and academic achievement. The study was realized using semi-experimental model based on quantitative origin. The universe of the research is consisted of second grade pre-service teachers in Amasya University, Faculty of Education, Primary School Teaching Program. The sample of the study is consisted experiment group (N = 29) and the control group (N = 29) at Amasya University Faculty of Education in 2013-2014 academic year. Four different data collection tools were used in this study. These data collection tools are respectively 'Inquiry-Based Science Teaching Scale', 'Inquiry-Based Learning Skills Perception Scale', 'Scientific Process Skills Test' and 'Chemistry Activities Achievement Test'. The data related to chemistry activities were analyzed as the pre-test of the inquiry-based science teaching scale pre-test, the inquiry-based learning skills perception scale pre-post tests, the scientific process skills test pre-post tests. At the beginning of the study, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the prospective teachers and inquiry-based science teaching skills. At the end of the study, it was found out that there was a significant difference between the experimental and the control groups in favor of the experimental group. When the inquiry-based teaching of the prospective teachers in the experimental and control groups is examined and the pre-test and post-tests were examined in terms of inquiry-based science teaching, it was concluded that there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group. When the preliminary tests were examined at the beginning of the study, it was seen that there was no difference in the perceptions of research-inquiry-based learning skills of the prospective teachers who participated in the research. At the end of the study, it was seen that there was a significant difference among the prospective teachers' perceptions of research-based learning skills in favor of the experimental group. It was concluded that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test perceptions of the inquiry-based learning skills of the prospective teachers in the experimental group. In the study, inquiry-based learning laboratory activities have been developed for second-grade prospective teachers in the primary school teaching program about the chemistry lesson and subjects in the Science Laboratory Practices I course, and it has been found out that these activities have an effect on the research and inquiry and scientific process skills and academic achievements of prospective teachers. It is suggested that inquiry based activities can be developed and applied in other fields and subjects. It is thought and recommended that these applications which are affective on science teaching should be realized on science prospective teachers.