Relationship between critical thinking tendencies of social studies teacher candidates and their media literacy levels

The aim of this study was to determine the media literacy levels and critical thinking tendencies of Social Studies teacher candidates in terms of various variables. 802 students who were studying in Bursa Uludağ University, Marmara University, Yıldız Teknik University, Sakarya University, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and Trakya University Department of Social Studies participated in the study in the 2018-2019 academic year. California Critical Thinking Tendency Scale (CEDEÖ), translated into Turkish by Kökdemir (2003), Media Literacy Scale developed by the European Commission Media Literacy Unit (2011) and Personal Information Form developed by the researcher were used in the data collection process. The data obtained in the research; Descriptive statistics were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Levene F-test, Scheffe Test and Pearson correlation analysis. SPSS 25.0 software was used to analyze the data. According to the findings of the study, the critical thinking tendency of Social Studies teacher candidates was low; media literacy levels were found to be basic and intermediate. As a result of the study, it was found that the relationship between Social Studies teacher candidates ' media literacy levels and critical thinking tendencies was low, positive and significant.