An investigation into social studies teacher candidates' attitudes toward instructional technologies

The aim of the research is "to examine the attitudes of Social Studies teacher candidates towards instructional technology." Within the scope of this research, the attitudes of Social Studies teacher candidates towards instructional technology during the 2022-2023 academic year were examined. The study group of the research consisted of 555 teacher candidates studying in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of the Social Studies Teaching Department at Akdeniz, Aksaray, Gazi, and Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Universities during the 2022-2023 academic year. To collect data, the relevant literature was reviewed in accordance with the purpose of the research. As the data collection tool, the "Attitude Scale Towards Instructional Technologies" developed by Metin, Kaleli Yılmaz, Coşkun, and Birişçi (2012) was used. For the analysis of the data obtained from the Attitude Scale Towards Instructional Technologies, IBM SPSS 27 software was used. According to the results obtained from the research, when the reliability analysis of the study was measured using Cronbach's Alpha coefficient, it was found that the study had a high level of internal consistency with a score of 0.789. Based on the data obtained from the scale applied to Social Studies teacher candidates, it was determined that the candidates had quite positive attitudes towards instructional technologies. According to the findings regarding the demographic characteristics of the teacher candidates, no significant difference was found in terms of gender, frequency of internet use, or purpose of internet use. However, significant differences were found in some sub-dimensions related to grade level and internet access availability. The results were discussed in relation to similar studies, and recommendations were made.