The effect of micro teaching to the development of pre-service science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge on the subject of heat and temperature

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of micro teaching to the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of pre-service elemantary science teachers' on the subject of Heat and Temperature. In this study mixed-method in which both qualitative and quantitative methods are used together was used. When collecting data, solomon four-group design in the quantitative section and potantial multiple-case study from case study design in the qualitative section was utilized. 72 pre-service teachers who was chosen by random sampling from the senior class students in two different universities constituted two experimantal and two control groups. Also, semi-conducted interviews were made with 16 pre-service teachers from experimental groups chosen with purposeful sampling from non-random samplimg method. In collecting quantitative data The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) and teaching profession attitude scale; in collecting qualitative data semi-conducted interview form to determine pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge were used. It was utilized from SPSS 15.00 (Statistical Package for The Social Sciences) and LISREL 9.1 packet programmes for analyzing quantitative data. Before analyzing the data, the results of the Kolmogrow-Simirnov test were looked for the normality test of study groups and it was seen that scale had generally normal distrubution. For interpreting data, the values of frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standart deviation were calculated and t-test for binary variable and one way analysis of variance for variables more than two and Scheffe's Test to the determine the source of significant difference come up were used. In the case of a significant difference between groups, eta-sequare that shows the effect size was examined. In analyzing qualitative data obtained in the study, descriptive analysis and content analysis were used. According to quantitative results of the study; it was determined that micro teaching affected positively pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes toward teaching profession. However, it was seen that during micro teaching process pre-service teachers realized their deficiencies in their content knowledge on the subject of Heat and Temperature and they were disposed to remove these deficiencies. After pre-service teachers' awareness of their content knowledge, correspondingly it was seen that their self reliance increased and developed positive attitudes toward science teaching and learning. Pre-service science teachers? experiences in the micro teaching enhanced their beliefs for using a lot of teaching strategies and methods that make students attend the lesson for teaching the subject of Heat and Temperature. Also, according to findings obtained from interviews made with pre-service teachers, it was determined that micro teaching affected directly pre-service science teachers' orientation toward teaching the subject of Heat and Temperature. It was seen that pre-service teachers predominantly focused on the process evaluation on the subject of Heat and Temperature. This case is such as to explain the source of the significant difference in the experimantal groups' quantitative results. In the direction of study results, micro teaching practices can be conducted as they will affect positively the development of pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teacher education.