Early childhood teacher candidates' qualifications in science teaching

Alisinanoglu F., İnan H. Z., Özbey S., Usak M.

ENERGY EDUCATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PART B-SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, cilt.4, sa.1, ss.373-390, 2012 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 4 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2012
  • Dergi Adı: ENERGY EDUCATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PART B-SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL STUDIES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.373-390
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Teacher candidates, Early childhood, Science, Qualifications, SKILLS
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

In recent years, researchers and educators have been paying more attention to science education in early ages of children. Children's innate curiosity and interest in science, as well as the development and learning benefits of early childhood science instruction, are encouraging researchers and educators to study how to raise the quality of science education in early childhood education centers. Since the 'teacher' is one of the factors that either increases or decreases the quality of education, educators and researchers are looking for the ways to support early childhood teachers in science content and science education. To accomplish that, it is essential to determine the strengths and weaknesses of teachers in science teaching. The study is conducted to see if teacher candidates are qualified enough to teach science. In other words, the current study is interested in understanding early childhood education teacher candidates' qualifications in teaching young children science content and helping them develop science process skills. The results of the study are stated in the paper.