Perception towards laboratory use and aplications of chemistry teachers

In this study, chemistry teachers' perfections of lab use and lab applications were examined. The study was conducted with 149 chemistry teachers working at secondary schools under the Ministry of National Education during 2019-2020 school year. It was designed as a relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. "Chemistry Teachers' Perceptions Scale for Lab Applications", "Questionnaire for Factors Affecting Laboratory Practices" and "Personal Information Form", in order to collect data about some variables related to chemistry teachers were used as data collection tools. Whether the scale of the chemistry teachers' perceptions of lab applications and the scores of sub-dimensions of this scale, which are the goals, effectiveness and planning of the lab, have any meaningful difference according to sex and the degree obtained and have any meaningful difference according to independent samples t-test and type of the school they work at were determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Whether the scale of the chemistry teachers' perceptions of lab applications and the scores of sub-dimensions of this scale, which are the goals, effectiveness and planning of the lab, have any meaningful difference according to work experience was determined by Kruskal-Wallis test. Percentages, frequencies and averages were obtained with descriptive statistics from the data obtained from the last questionnaire. As a result of the study, no meaningful difference was found in the perception scores of teachers towards goals, effectiveness and planning of the lab and lab practices according to their sex and type of the school they work at. Meaningful difference was found in their perception scores towards the effectiveness of the lab and lab practices according to their work experience. In sub-dimension of lab goals, meaningful difference was found according to the type of the school from which the teachers graduated. According to the answers given by chemistry teachers to the questionnaire items; teachers feel competent in protecting their students against the effects of chemicals, providing classroom management, and using experimental equipment. However, they stated that they could not spare enough time for experiments due to crowded classes and curriculum density. In addition, teachers believe that the experiments that cannot be carried out in the lab should be performed in the computer environment and that the experiments made in the computer environment are a motivating factor for the students. Keywords: Laboratory Use, Chemistry Instruction, Teachers' Perceptions