Determination of pre-school teacher candidates' views on citizen science

The purpose of this study is to determine pre-service preschool teachers' attitudes towards citizen science and to examine how these attitudes change in terms of gender, grade level and regional differences. The study aims to emphasize the importance of citizen science projects in preschool education and to support the integration of these projects into educational programs. The study has a mixed research design using quantitative and qualitative research methods. The 20-item five-point Likert-type "Attitude Toward Citizen Science Scale" was used as a quantitative data collection tool. Qualitative data were collected through a semi-structured interview form. Quantitative data were collected from a total of 707 pre-service preschool teachers (412 female, 295 male) studying at the faculties of education of state universities in seven different regions of Turkey. Qualitative data were obtained through face-to-face and online interviews with 145 pre-service teachers in the same regions. The quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics (independent samples t-test and ANOVA) using SPSS software. Qualitative data were coded by thematic analysis method and main themes, sub-themes and categories were determined. The findings of the study show that female pre-service teachers' attitudes towards citizen science are more positive than male pre-service teachers' attitudes towards citizen science and this difference is statistically significant. It was determined that attitudes towards citizen science projects became more positive as the grade level increased. In addition, it was observed that pre-service teachers in Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions had more positive attitudes towards citizen science, while pre-service teachers in the Black Sea region had lower attitude scores. In the light of the results of the study, it is recommended that citizen science projects should be integrated into the preschool education curriculum at earlier stages. In addition, practical training and teacher training programs should be organized to increase pre-service teachers' competencies towards these projects. Taking into account regional differences in education, the necessary resources and material support should be provided so that the projects can be implemented equally in all regions.