The relationship between the critical thinking skills of science teachers and biodiversity literacy

Today, along with environmental pollution, biodiversity loss is increasing. Biodiversity literacy is critical to understanding biodiversity loss. In biodiversity literacy, critical thinking is one of the factors that has an important place in making sense of the acquired knowledge. This study, aimed to examine the relationship between the critical thinking skills of pre-service science teachers and biodiversity literacy. 224 pre-service science teachers studying at 5 different universities in the Aegean region participated in the study. In the study, comparative causal and relational research methods were employed together. In collecting the data, Yoldaş's Critical Thinking Skills Scale (CTSS) [30] (with a Cronbach Alpha reliability of 0.87) and the Biodiversity Literacy Scale (BLS), developed by Gürbüz et al, [109] (whit a Cronbach Alpha reliability of 0.85), were used. Analysis of the data was performed using the SPSS 15. The CTSS consists of 7 factors: sensitivity in critical thinking, awareness in critical thinking, empathy in critical thinking, acceptance in critical thinking, assumptions in critical thinking, common sense in critical thinking, and thinking critically about the media. The BLS consists of three factors: biodiversity threats, the concept of biodiversity, and the importance of biodiversity. In the analysis of the data, an independent sample t-test, ANOVA one-way factor analysis, correlation analysis, simple linear regression analysis, and canonical correlation analysis were used to investigate the relationship between the factors of the scales. As a result of the study, it was seen that there was a significant difference in the critical thinking skills of the teacher candidates depending on the gender variable. In addition, it was determined that there is a low and significant positive relationship between pre-service teachers' critical thinking skills and biodiversity literacy. The critical thinking skills of pre-service teachers were determined as a result of simple linear regression analysis that significantly predicted biodiversity literacy and explained 5.1% of the variance. As a result of the canonical correlation analysis, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between the "Empathy in Critical Thinking" factor and the NCD "Concept of Biodiversity" factor. No significant difference in the critical thinking skills of science teacher candidates in terms of age and class variables was observed. It was also determined that there is no significant difference in the biodiversity literacy of teacher candidates in terms of gender, age, and class variables.