Examination of problem solving skills of social studies teacher candidates

How an individual approaches the problems he will encounter throughout his life and how he will solve the problems he encounters largely depends on the knowledge and skills he acquires in the family and school environment. In the family, parents set an example and guide their children in dealing with problems. At school, the teacher supports the problem-solving skills of her students both with the activities required by the official curriculum and with applications in and outside the classroom. Social studies course offers an important opportunity for students to gain problem-solving skills. Therefore, social studies teachers should be able to help their students effectively and accurately in this regard. For this, teachers themselves must have problem-solving skills. The purpose of this study is to determine the problem solving skills of social studies teacher candidates. The study was conducted with an explanatory design, one of the sub-designs of the mixed research method. In the quantitative dimension of the study, the relational screening model was preferred. Data were collected predominantly on a quantitative basis. The qualitative dimension is designed to explain and interpret the results of the quantitative dimension. The study group of the research is volunteer teacher candidates studying in the social studies teaching department at different universities in Turkey in the 2022-2023 academic year. As data collection tools, Personal Information Form and Problem Solving Inventory were used for the quantitative dimension. For the qualitative dimension, a semi-structured interview form created by the researcher was used. Quantitative data were collected on a voluntary basis by face-to-face and online methods and analyzed with the SPSS program. Qualitative data were collected through interviews and analyzed using the descriptive analysis method. The quantitative results of the research were supported by direct quotations from qualitative data. The research results showed that the problem-solving skills of social studies teacher candidates were high and that this skill differed significantly in various variables and some sub-dimensions of the scale used.