Views of mathematics teachers working in science and art centers on distance education

In this study, the views of mathematics teachers working in science and art centers about distance education were examined. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with randomly selected twelve mathematics teachers working in science and art centers all over Turkey. The interviews were conducted online. The questions in the semi-structured interview form consisting of eight questions prepared by the researcher were asked to the teachers who participated in the interviews. In this study, the phenomenology research design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was chosen. The answers given by the participants to the semi-structured interview form were divided into subclasses. The majority of the participants of the study stated that they did not engage in distance education activities in the science and art center before the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants talked about the positive and negative aspects of distance education, and the connections of these positive and negative aspects with science and art centers and gifted pupils. All of the teachers mentioned that they used the Zoom program as meeting platform and various computer programs during distance education. Five of the teachers who participated in the research on the education to be implemented in science and art centers after the Covid-19 pandemic think that there should be only face-to-face education, and seven think that there should be both face-to-face and distance education models. None of the teachers participating in the research stated that only distance education should be applied in science and art centers after the pandemic. In this thesis, it has been suggested to researchers to investigate the effects of distance education on areas other than mathematics, to seek the opinions of students or parents, and to develop in-class activities and educational tools for distance education. Suggestions were made to education administrators and policy makers to be prepared in advance for disaster situations such as a pandemic. It is recommended that students and parents should be aware that attendance and classroom rules should be the same in distance education as in face-to-face education.