Examination of science teachers' opinions about writing to learn

The aim of this study is to examine the views of science teachers about writing for learning purposes. The research is a qualitative study and the scanning method was used for the research data. 140 science teachers working in different cities of Turkey participated in the study in the 2020-2021 academic year. In addition, focus group interviews were held with 6 science teachers. The questionnaire form and focus group interview form created by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed by content analysis. For the data obtained, themes and codes were created and tables were obtained. Frequencies and percentages of themes and codes are given in the tables. As a result of the study, it was concluded that science teachers working in our country stated that writing for learning purposes especially provided permanence, but they could not apply it in their classes due to reasons such as time problems and excess curriculum. It was concluded that the most used writing activities for learning purposes by science teachers were note-taking, concept maps, and experiment reports, while the least used activities were letters, poems, and lecture diaries. Teachers stated that the positive aspects of writing for learning are that it provides the permanence of the learned information and increases learning. They also express that it is time-consuming as a negative aspect. At the same time, they stated that it can provide many skills such as mental skills, creative and renewal skills, and learning skills. As for how to increase writing activities for learning purposes, it was seen that the pre-service teachers gave answers such as increasing their knowledge about the activities, diluting the curriculum, not having crowded classes, and increasing the number of lessons. Keywords: Writing to Learn, Science Teachers, Teachers' Opinions