The perceptions of the pre?service science teachers’ problem?solving skills

Abstract

Developments in knowledge, science and technology cause some problems for individuals to adapt to new situations. For this reason, improving problem solving skills of individuals to cope with those problems became one of the most important objectives of education. Teachers should help students not only by just giving information how to solve a problem but also by assimilating this skill. Undoubtedly, firstly they should have problem solving skills to be able to help their students. In this context, the aim of the study is to find out the perceptions of pre?service science teachers’ problem?solving skills. The sample of the study was consisted of 76 freshmen, 81 sophomore, 117 junior and 69 senior in total 343 pre?service science teachers who study in Department of Science Teacher Education in 2012?2013 academic year. Problem solving inventory (PSI) which was developed by Heppner and Petersen (1982) and adapted into Turkish by Şahin, Şahin and Heppner (1993) was used as a data collection tool. Data obtained in the study was analysed with SPSS (version 16.0). In the data analysis process; beside descriptive statistical methods, One Way ANOVA was used to determine whether or not there is any significant difference among grades and their points of all the PSI and its dimensions. According to the results of analysis, a significant difference was found between sophomores and juniors and also between sophomores and seniors. Moreover, when data was examined according to “impulsive style” dimension and “avoidant style” dimension; it was also found that there was a significant difference among grades.