A sustainable development education suggestion for social studies preservice teachers

The aim of this study is to determine the sustainable development awareness and belief levels of social studies pre-service teachers and to examine their views on sustainable development education. The sample of the research consisted of 59 social studies preservice teachers studying in the last year of Social Studies Teaching at Akdeniz University Faculty of Education in the fall semester of 2019-2020 academic year. The mixed method, in which quantitative and qualitative methods are used together, was used in the study. The "Sustainable Development Awareness Determination Scale" and "Beliefs towards Sustainable Development Education Scale" were used as data collection tools in the quantitative dimension of the research. In the qualitative aspect of the research, an interview form prepared by the researcher was used in order to obtain the opinions of the social studies pre-service teachers on Sustainable Development Education. The data obtained from the quantitative measurement tools of the research were analyzed using the statistical package program (SPSS). On the other hand, the data obtained from the qualitative measurement tool were analyzed by using the descriptive analysis method. When the results obtained from the quantitative dimension of the research were examined, a comparison of the pre-test scores obtained before the Sustainable Development Education (SDE) and the post-test scores obtained after the SDE revealed that the post-test scores of the social studies preservice teachers were higher in terms of their awareness level, whereas it was concluded that there was no significant variation according to their belief levels, which was attributed to its being their first encounter with SDE. When we look at the results obtained in the qualitative dimension of the research, it is possible to say that the SDE given to the preservice teacher's yielded positive feedback and that the preservice teachers developed a positive perspective on the concept of sustainable development, and they gained consciousness and awareness in this regard. In addition, when the results are interpreted from a general point of view, it is seen that the qualitative findings of the research support and complement the quantitative findings.