Attitudes of science teachers against distance education during the COVID-19 epidemic

In this study, it was aimed to determine the attitudes of science teachers towards distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, which is a quantitative research, descriptive survey model was used. The universe of the research consists of science teachers who work in Düzce. This study consist of by 59 science teachers who were determined by easy sampling method. The "Distance Education Attitude Scale" developed by Ağır (2007) was used as a data collection tool. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient was calculated for the reliability of the scale. According to the results of the analysis, it was found that the attitudes of science teachers towards distance education were moderate during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no significant difference in distance education attitudes of teachers in terms of gender, educational status, institution they work for and professional seniority. When teachers' views on distance education applied during the COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated, it was seen that teachers had the most difficulties in communication and technological tools in this period, and the main reason of this was the inequality of opportunity among students. This situation also negatively affected the motivation of the students and caused a decrease in their success in the science course. Professional development of science teachers was mostly affected positively by this process; teachers' technology literacy has increased and their ability to use educational technologies has improved.