The effect of the flipped learning curriculum on the academic success and 21st-century learning skills of teacher candidates

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the Teaching Principles and Methods course based on the Flipped Learning Model (FLM) on the academic achievement levels, critical thinking dispositions, communication skills, digital literacy skills and attitudes towards cooperative learning of pre-service teachers. At the same time, it was aimed to determine the opinions of the pre-service teachers participating in the research about the applied model. The nested mixed research design, in which quantitative and qualitative research methods are used simultaneously, was used in the research. In the quantitative dimension of the research, the Solomon four-group research design was used, and in the qualitative dimension, the case study design was used. The study group of the research consisted of 2nd year students studying in the departments of Science, Elementary Mathematics, English, and Turkish Language Teaching at a state university in the fall semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. In the research, "Critical Thinking Tendency Scale", "Communication Skills Scale", "Digital Literacy Skills Scale", "Attitude Scale Towards Collaborative Learning", "Academic Achievement Test" and "Interview Form" were used as data collection tools. According to the research findings, it was observed that there was a statistically significant increase in the academic achievement, critical thinking disposition, communication skills and digital literacy skills of the students in the experimental group in which FLM was applied. The academic achievement post-test scores of the experimental groups were statistically significantly higher than the control groups. However, the communication skills post-test scores of the experimental-1 group were higher than both control groups. It was observed that the digital literacy levels of both experimental groups were significantly higher than the control-2 group. The data obtained from the interviews with the students in the experimental group were coded and themed. Accordingly, students' views on FLM were presented as four main themes and 19 sub-themes under them. While the students stated that FLM increases academic success and permanence, they also stated that the model offers the opportunity to apply what they have learned. Finally, according to the students' opinions, it was seen that the experimental application contributed to the development of students' critical thinking, communication, and cooperation skills.