Difficulties encountered by science teachers while teaching the fiftih grade living organism and life learning area

This research aims to investigate the difficulties encountered by science teachers while teaching the learning outcomes in the field of living things and life to fifth-grade students. The teachers' demographic characteristics and their responses regarding the outcomes were analyzed and the difficulties encountered were interpreted. This is a mixed-method study involving qualitative and quantitative data, employing a phenomenological design in the qualitative part and a correlational research model in the quantitative part. Data were collected through a questionnaire regarding science teachers' perceptions of teaching the topics in the living world and humans and the environment units within the subject area of living things and life in fifth grade, and the difficulties they experience in practice. Reliability analyses of the scales were conducted, and descriptive statistical analyses, Spearman correlation analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis H analyses were utilized. According to the findings, no significant differences were found in the difficulties encountered by teachers while teaching the outcomes according to their gender, the university they graduated from, or the appropriateness of the outcomes to their grade level. A significant difference was found in the perceptions of the comprehensibility of the outcomes. This finding was found to vary depending on the universities from which teachers graduated. The study concluded that teachers often designed their own assessment activities for learning outcomes that lacked assessment and evaluation activities, that teachers monitored their students' progress, and that they provided opportunities for students to self-assess. The similarity between the proportions of teachers with and without laboratories in their schools, and the fact that some schools lacked microscopes even when they had laboratories, supports the purpose of our study. The findings suggest that teachers lack sufficient or incomplete knowledge about biodiversity and endangered and threatened species. The study's findings aim to contribute to the development of collaborative platforms between education, teaching, and teachers.