A Study on Promoting Pre-service Science Teachers' Readiness for General Physics Laboratory I Course

Abstract

This research was conducted in order to enable pre-service science teachers to be prepared for laboratory applications and to get more efficiency from the course through the reflective thinking-oriented self-assessment practices applied in General Physics Laboratory-1 course. The study group consisted of 26 freshman science education pre-service teachers studying during 2013-2014 fall semester. The action research design was adopted in the study. Experiment sheet and semi-structured interview form including reflective thinking-oriented self-assessment practices were used as data collection tool. The collected data were coded and analysed through content analysis technique. As a result of the research, it was observed that reflective thinking-oriented self-assessment practices applied in General Physics Laboratory I course had positive effects on pre-service teachers. In addition, the pre-service teachers with whom semi-structured interviews were made, expressed that these practices improved their critical thinking skills and self-criticism skills. According to the results of the study, academicians are advised to use reflective thinking-oriented self-assessment practices in their laboratory sheets.