Biology teachers' views about distance education in the COVID-19 pandemia process (Ankara-Sincan example)

The Covid-19 pandemic process has affected the whole world and a number of precautionary changes have been made in all areas of life. In this context, face-to-face education was suspended in our country and distance education practices were started. Distance education, which was previously applied only in higher education, has become an alternative to face-to-face education in primary and secondary schools in this process. However, since it was encountered for the first time, distance education had different reflections for teachers, students and parents. The purpose of this research is to present the reflections of the change in home and school life of biology teachers and their views on the distance education process during Covid-19 pandemic. Descriptive model was used in this qualitative study. The universe of the study was composed of teachers working in official high schools in Sincan district of Ankara and the study's sample was composed of 10 biology teachers who were determined by random sampling method and participated on a voluntary basis. Within the scope of semi-structured interview technique, 12 open-ended questions prepared beforehand were directed to teachers in online environments. The answers given to the questions were typed to word document and evaluated by content analysis method by reading line by line. Then, based on the answers, code were determined. As a result of the research, it was determined that, it is difficult for teachers to undertake the role of parents and teachers at home and to carry out both together; student participation is very low due to lack of technical equipment, lack of attendance or unwillingness; it is not possible to interact with students due to the cameras being turned off, and for all these reasons teachers were not satisfied with their performances. On the other hand, staying in touch with students constantly and increasing the use of audio-visual materials are the advantages of distance education.