Examining the moral reasoning of pre-service science teachers about the care of stray animals as a socio-scientific issue

Examining the moral reasoning of pre-service science teachers on street animals, which is a controversial issue that many cities around the world have been looking for solutions to in recent years, will contribute to the accumulation of knowledge produced on this issue. On the other hand, studying the profiles of individuals on such a vivid moral issue can make important contributions to shaping the relationship between science education-moralityscience literacy. In this context, the research aims to examine the moral reasoning of preservice science teachers studying at Bursa Uludağ University regarding the care of stray animals, which is a socio-scientific issue. The present research was conducted with 92 preservice science teachers studying at different grade levels, using descriptive due diligence from quantitative research designs. As a data collection tool, the moral reasoning scale, which was created by applying open-ended questions that could reveal moral reasoning about stray animals to a group of 50 participants and subjecting the results to content analysis, was used; the validity and reliability of the scale were ensured by experts. In the scenario, where a person who feeds stray dogs can be held responsible for this injury because of the attack of one of their dogs on an individual, it is questioned whether the participants are responsible in three different positions: 'as someone who watches the case', 'as an individual who feeds the animals and 'as an individual who is exposed to the attack'. As a result of the findings obtained from the research, intra-position frequency distributions and inter-position themes were examined. It has been found that with the change of positions in the scenario, the arguments used also show differences and, accordingly, there are differences in their moral reasoning. In addition, the data we obtained also showed us that pre-service science teachers do not have sufficient knowledge about the care of street animals and that their reasoning on this issue is mostly based on limited arguments. For this reason, it is recommended to target teaching based on socioscientific issues to increase critical thinking and moral reasoning skills, and to include stray animals as a socioscientific topic such as GMOs and nuclear power plants to eliminate the lack of knowledge on this subject. It is important for pre-service teachers to be aware of their moral reasoning, which includes such variability so that individuals can create good and truth that they will not change under all circumstances, rather than a profile in which the good and truth changes as the conditions change or they focus on various moral themes. For this awareness, using various socioscientific issues, including stray animals, individuals practice choosing the good and the truth that does not change in moral terms, and when they cannot realize this situation, they enter into discussions with their peers in a dialogic environment, which can provide a rich moral reasoning environment. On the other hand, teacher candidates who are raised in this way can provide similar environments to their students when they become teachers. Keywords: Moral reasoning, preservice science teachers, socio-scientific issues, stray animals