Classroom teachers' and classroom teacher candidates' views about the nature of science and distinction of science-pseudoscience beliefs

This study aims to investigate the views about the Nature of Science of classroom teachers, who play the key role to shape the first perceptions of students about science, and classroom teacher candidates, the potential teachers of the future, as well as their beliefs with respect to the distinction between science and pseudoscience; and to assess the results in terms of different variables. The study group was determined as 344 classroom teachers from the Central district of a province located in the Central Black Sea Region and 240 classroom teacher candidates, attending the university in this city, and the sample included 172 classroom teachers and 132 classroom teacher candidates volunteering to participate in the study responding to the items in the data collection tool. The data in present study was collected through 'Pseudoscientific Belief Scale' and 'Nature of Science Beliefs Scale'. Besides, in order to assess the issue in terms of different variables 'Personal Information Form' was utilized. 'The Nature of Science Beliefs Scale', developed by Özcan and Turgut (2014) consists of 7 factors and 37 items. The reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.70Since the scale was prepared for an adult group, the factor analysis wasn't needed to be done again. 'Pseudoscientific Belief Scale', developed by Çetinkaya and Taşar (2018) consists of 3 factors and 31 items. Since this scale was prepared for secondary school students, but current study addressed to the teachers, the factor analysis was rearranged to be consisting of 3 factors and 20 questions. It was observed that classroom teachers' and classroom teacher candidates' views about the Nature of Science were found to be medium level for both groups. Classroom teachers' views about the Nature of Science were assessed in respect to different variables. No significant differences were found between the teachers' views about the Science of Nature and such variables as gender, experience, type of high school and majors at high school, current training class, and also the status whether or not they attended a course about the Nature of Science; However, some significant differences were found at some sub-dimensions in relation to such variables as age, university and post graduation department. On the other hand, no significant differences were detected between the teacher candidates' views about the Nature of Science in terms of variables as gender and majors at high school whereas some significant differences were observed in some sub-dimensions related to such variables as the type of high school they graduated, grade levels, and the status whether or not they attended a course about the Nature of Science. The distinction of Science-Pseudoscience beliefs of classroom teachers and classroom teacher candidates, which is another aspect of the present study, was found to be medium level as well. While no significant differences were seen between the teachers' distinction of Science-Pseudoscience in relation to variables as experience, type of high school and university they graduated, post graduation department and current training class, a significant relation was found in some sub-dimensions with regard to variables as age and gender. On the other hand, no significant differences were detected between the classroom teacher candidates' distinction of Science - Pseudoscience beliefs and such variables in relation to gender and majors at high school; whereas a significant relationship was found between the type of high school they graduated, grade levels, the status whether or not they attended a course about the nature of science and some sub-dimensions. Based on the study results, it was concluded that the Science-Pseudoscience beliefs of classroom teachers and classroom teacher candidates generally differ in some sub-dimensions; and there were significant differences in classroom teachers' and classroom teacher candidates' views about the Nature of Science in all aspects of dimensions in favor of the classroom teacher candidates. Since the classroom teachers' and classroom teacher candidates' views about the Nature of Science were found to be medium level and this situation would directly affect their students 'views about the Nature of Science, it may be useful to plan in-service trainings by the Ministry of Education together with the universities in order to enrich the pedagogical qualities of teachers for their training process at school. In addition, appropriate courses involving science and Nature of Science issues could be incorporated to undergraduate curricula or the current courses of classroom teacher candidates, who are the potential teachers of the future. Because of the fact that the distinction of Science – Pseudoscience beliefs of classroom teachers and teacher candidates were detected to be medium level, there might be some misconceptions related to Science and Pseudoscience issues. In this regard, appropriate practical courses which enable classroom teachers and classroom teacher candidates to make a realistic distinguish between science and pseudoscience were recommended.