Determining the knowledge level of science teachers and science teachers candidates on first aid

Students have various physical injuries and accidents depending upon the activities they perform in educational environments. Teachers who are in the same place with students are the closest sources of first aid, and they should know how to do first aid in case of accidents in the school. Therefore, knowing first aid is significantly important for teachers to prevent situations related to the accidents that are likely to happen in the school. Science teachers, in particular, should know how to do first aid for the accidents that can occur in a laboratory environment. This research was made to examine science teacher and teachers candidates' level of knowledge on first aid practices. The study sample included 100 participants in total. Of the participants, 50 were science teachers working in Ankara province and 50 were science teacher candidate studying their last year in a public university. The data of this study performed using screening model were collected with "First Aid Knowledge Level on First Aid". The questionnaire includes 32 questions. Öztürk (2018) conducted the validity and reliability studies for this questionnaire and found the reliability of the questionnaire to be 0.67. The study data were evaluated using the SPSS program. The data indicated that most of the teacher candidate had not received first aid training and science teachers had deficient knowledge regarding first aid. Therefore, the lack of knowledge on first aid of the teacher candidates should be eliminated before they start their occupations. Accordingly, first aid classes should be included in science teachers' curriculum of undergraduate education as obligatory or elective classes, and then these teacher's level of knowledge on first aid should be improved through in-service training programs.