The analysis of pre-service science teacher's science teaching approaches

The aim of this study is to reveal science teacher candidates'approaches towards science teaching and their science teaching practices (experiences). The study is designed as a mixed method research, where the sampleof the quantitative part consisted of 62 pre-service science teachers (42 females and 20 males) in the fourth year of their undergraduate science education program in a state university in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years, and the qualitative part consisted of a group of 6 participants selected from this group. The quantitative data of the study were collected by using the Draw A Science Teacher Test (DASTT-C), the Teaching Styles Continuum and the Epistemological World Views Scale. Qualitative data, on the other hand, were collected through observations of teaching practices and semi-structured interviews.The findings of the study showed that, more than half of the pre-service science teachers showed teacher-student centered teaching approach. According to the Teaching Styles Continuum, on the other hand, most pre-service science defined themselves as researcher teacher and according to the Epistemological World Views Scale, they were mostly contextual-relativist. Despite the findings gathered from these instruments, pre-service science teachers' teaching practices showed that they mostly used teacher-centered approaches.