Through the theory of planned behavior, determining the behavioral objectives of teachers and pre-service teachers in performing laboratory practice within the scope of science lesson

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a behavioral theory, wich has been used very often in different areas lately, but the studies done in the field of science are limited. Using TPB, it is possible to measure the intention toward behavior and to determine the possibility of behavior The aim of this study is to research the behavioral purposes and the factors to effect purposes of teachers who teach science lessons by using Theory of Planned Behavior and of the ones who will teach lessons after graduation, through performing laboratory works. This study aimed to research the attitudes of teachers (primary school teachers and science teachers) and preservice teachers towards behavioral purpose, subjective norms and also aimed to confirm the perceived behavior control variants, the beliefs which effect this variants and the behavioral purposes of this variants. Besides, it is intended to research the factors comparatively which effect the behavioral purpose of laboratory practice of teachers who work at present and who will work in the future. In this research, quantitative and qualitative research methods were used together. In the qualitative part of the research, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, semi-structured interviews were conducted to the teachers who teach science lessons in primary and secondary schools. In this stage, descriptive analysis technique was used. 37 primary school teachers and science teachers, who work in the schools of Ministry of Education in Kastamonu, were interviewed. These interviews formed the basis for the scale development study, which would be acquired in the quantitative part of the research. In the qualitative part of the research, the scale which was developed by the researcher within the context of Theory of Planned Behavior was conducted as pilot scheme to 207 preservice science and primary school teachers who study at Kastamonu University Faculty of Education. "Scale for Determining Behavioral Objectives in Science Laboratory Practices" took its final form, after the validity and reliability analysis was measured by SPSS program and Path analysis was applied by AMOS program. The final scale was conducted to 201 primary school teachers and science teachers in schools of Ministry of Education in Kastamonu and 976 preservice science and primary school teachers who study in Turkey. In consequence of the study, "Scale for Determining Behavioral Objectives in Science Laboratory Practices" was developed by the researcher and this contributed to the literature. According to the result of the study, it is confirmed that teachers' and preservice teachers' attitude towards the behavior determine their taking the behavior as a purpose. It is seen that subjective norms effect the purpose to a lesser extent and teachers acquire the behavioral purpose through their own attitude, not through oppression. It is confirmed that perceived behavior control indirectly effect the behavioral factors. According to the present situation, schools have difficulty in performing laboratory practice. It is confirmed that inadequacy of materials, inadequacy of laboratory settings and classroom size's being crowded prevent the laboratory practice from being performed efficiently. It is a must to meet the needs of laboratories. Besides, it is seen that some situations in terms of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control prevent the teachers from performing the laboratory practices effectively. These situations may be faced by other teachers in the future or may appear subsequently. Teachers may underestimate the laboratory work or may not care about the wants of others to perform laboratory practice.