Problems faced by classroom teachers working in rural areas in the science teaching process

This research aims to determine the problems faced by classroom teachers who work in rural areas and conduct science lessons during the science lesson teaching process. The sample and study group of the research consisted of classroom teachers working in rural areas of Bahçesaray district of Van province, affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, between the academic years of 2019-2021. The research is a mixed design in which quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together. In the quantitative research, which is the first part of the research, scanning model was preferred. In this context, a questionnaire with 41 items and 5 dimensions was sent to 205 primary school teachers in the research sample, and 136 questionnaires, which received feedback, were analyzed. Anova and t-test analyzes were used for the sub-problems created in accordance with the purpose of the research. As a quantitative result of the research, 5 sub-dimensions (problems encountered in pre-process preparation, problems encountered in the process, problems encountered in assessment and evaluation activities, problems encountered in science lessons and problems encountered in science lesson curriculum) included in the questionnaire about the problems faced by classroom teachers in the teaching process of science lesson were discussed. It has been determined that these dimensions do not differ significantly in terms of gender, grade level and class size. In addition, according to the average value analysis, it has been determined that the most common problem faced by the primary school teachers who teach science is "problems related to science lessons", and the least encountered problem is "problems they encounter in the process". In the second part of the study, focus group interview method, one of the qualitative research techniques, was used. In this context, the participants were determined by the multi-stage sampling method. In the first stage, the schools where the participants work were determined by criterion sampling method. In the second stage, a total of 30 teachers, 22 female and 8 male, were determined by using the maximum diversity sampling method, based on the gender, professional seniority, grade level and number of years. The questions asked to the participants in the interviews were determined under eight dimensions by reviewing the literature. These determined dimensions are "student-related problems, curriculum-related problems, textbook-related problems, learning environment-related problems, administrative-related problems, parent-related problems, environmental factors-related problems, and teacher-related problems". The data obtained in this context were analyzed with the content analysis technique. It was determined that the problem at the highest frequency was "problems arising from the learning environment", while the problem at the lowest frequency was "textbook-related problems" and "problems arising from environmental factors".