Determination of awareness and behavior levels of biological diversity of science teacher candidates

The aim of this study is to investigate the level of awareness and behavior of science teacher candidates on biodiversity and the relation of these levels with demographic variables. The sample of the study consists of 216 candidate teachers studying in the Science Teaching Program of the Department of Mathematics and Science Education in the Faculty of Education of Fırat University. 60 items were determined by the researcher for the measurement tool. After obtaining the opinion of 5 field experts for structural conformity, 56 items were selected as draft. The trial application of the scale was applied to 283 students randomly selected in Amasya University (240 students) and Muş Alparslan University (43 students) and the necessary arrangements were made for the scale. The Biodiversity Awareness Scale (BAS) was used as 24 items after the AFA, and the Biological Diversity Behavior Scale (BDBS) was completed with 25 items after AFA. The scale was applied to 216 candidate of science teachers in Fırat University. In order to reveal the sub-factors of awareness and behavior, exploratory factor analysis was applied. As a result of factor analysis, six factors were determined for biodiversity awareness measurement tool. The first factor ecological function, second factor species diversity, third factor usage value, fourth factor biodiversity elements, fifth factor biodiversity loss and the sixth factor is named as the current state of biodiversity. Seven factors have been identified for biological diversity measurement tool. The first factor is biodiversity conservation behavior, the second factor is the economic value of biodiversity, the third factor is the biodiversity's ethical value, the fourth factor is the biodiversity's threat elements, the fifth factor is the biodiversity's political and legal behaviors, the sixth factor is the use of biodiversity and the seventh factor is determined as the individual and social persuasion of biodiversity. The data were analyzed with SPSS 22 statistical program. In assessing the data, t-test to determine whether there is a significant difference between the arithmetic means of the için two independent variables; One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed if more than two groups were compared. In addition, frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean and standard deviations were calculated in order to determine the students' biological diversity awareness and behavior levels. While it was determined that candidate science teachers' average of perceptions about the levels of biological diversity behaviors were (3.53 ±, 370), the average of their perceptions about the levels of biological diversity awareness (3.57 ±, 328) was determined. The perceptions of the levels of biodiversity behaviors did not differ significantly according to the gender variable. It was determined that perceptions of biological diversity awareness levels were significantly different according to gender variable. This difference was in favor of women. This study will provide insight to the experts on biodiversity in the preparation of relevant curriculum and will guide future studies.