Primary education science teacher trainees? the adequacy of knowledge in the subject area of biology

In this study the state of the knowledge in the subject area of biology of the science teacher trainees and whether this changed according to independent differences.407 primary education science teacher trainees from the related departments in 10 different education faculties in Turkey participated to the study. As the data source of the study a multiple choice biology subject area knowledge test which had 59 items and a personal information inquiry was used.In the study, for the analysis of the personal information of the teacher trainees in the study a cross tab in descriptive statistics was used. To measure the variance analysis according to the independent differences for only one dependent difference (achievement of biology subject area knowledge test) one way ANOVA was used. To look for the relation between the academic medium of the teacher trainees who attended the study and the biology subject area knowledge test points the Pearson correlation analysis was used.The medium of the biology subject area knowledge points of the primary education science teacher trainees who attended the study has been identified as %57,9.There is a significant difference in the biology subject area knowledge test points between the faculties which attended the study.In the test points of the biology subject area knowledge test there is a significant difference in the gender and it is in the favor of the female students.There is a significant difference in the gained points from the biology subject area knowledge test according to the choice order of the department. This difference is in the favor of the ones choosing the department between 1 to 5.There is a significant difference in the gained points from the biology subject area knowledge test according to the satisfaction of the department. This difference is in the favor of the satisfied students.There is a positive relation between the academic average points and the biology subject area knowledge test.There is a difference in the teacher trainees? biology subject area knowledge test points according to the institution they wanted to work.There is a significant difference in the gained points from the biology subject area knowledge test according to the students reading books or periodicals in the field in the last year or not. This difference is in the favor of the students reading this kind of a publication.Key Words: Science Education, subject area knowledge proficiency, Science teacher, teacher competencies, Biology subject area knowledge.