Investigation of the effect of thought experiments on the development of pre-service science teachers scientific reasoning skills

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of thought experiments on the development of scientific reasoning skills of pre-service science teachers. In the study, pre-test post-test one-group design, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. The participants of the study were determined by convenient sampling technique from non-random sampling methods. This study was conducted with 97 pre-service science teachers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th grades) who were enrolled in a state university science teaching undergraduate program in the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. The data collection process of the study consisted of a five-week period. In this study, data were collected using the Hypothetical-Creative Reasoning Skills Inventory developed by Duran (2014). The data obtained from the inventory, which was administered as a one-group pretest-posttest, were analyzed with the SPSS program. Paired sample t-test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, which is the non-parametric equivalent of this test, were used to analyze the data. Paired sample t-test was applied to analyze the scores of pre-service science teachers from the Hypothetical-Creative Reasoning Skills Inventory. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the post-test total mean score (𝑥̅=84.53) was higher than the pretest total mean score (𝑥̅=79.77). This difference is statistically significant [t(96) = -4.33, p= .000< 0.05] and in favor of the posttest. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was applied for all sub-dimensions of scientific reasoning skills for which the assumption of normal distribution was not met. According to the results obtained, it was concluded that there was a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores for hypothetical-creative thinking skill, proportional thinking skill, probabilistic thinking skill, and correlational thinking skill. When the rank averages and rank sums are considered, it is seen that the difference is in favor of the positive ranks, that is, the post-test. No statistically significant difference was found in determining variables and combinatorial thinking skills. In conclusion, it was found that thought experiments had a positive effect on the development of pre-service science teachers' scientific reasoning skills. This effect was found to be especially for the development of hypothetical-creative thinking, proportional thinking, probabilistic thinking and correlational thinking skill sub-dimensions.