The aim of this study was to examine the effect of worksheets based on six thinking hats and case study on improvement of prospective science teachers’ critical thinking skills in a comparative manner. This study was designed on case study research method. The working group composed of 24 prospective science teachers who were studying at the 3th grade at the Elementary Department Science Teacher of Education Faculty in Giresun University. In the study, worksheets and journals were used for collecting data. Data obtained from worksheets based on six thinking hats and case study and journals were analyzed to document review technique. Qualitative data of the study about prospective science teachers’ critical thinking skills were analyzed with sub-factories of California Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) which was translated to Turkish by Kökdemir (2003) as descriptively. Qualitative data of both worksheets and journals of this study showed that although prospective science teachers generally stated with respect to analyticity and truth-seeking sub factories of critical thinking skills, they did not state about self-confidence and inquisitiveness sub factories.

The aim of the study is to examine the prospective chemistry teachers views about performing the experiments with flow diagram in the context of general chemistry laboratory course. There were 19 prospective chemistry teachers. Two questionnaires were developed by the authors to obtain prospective chemistry teachers views about the flow diagram usage in the general chemistry laboratory. The flow diagram instruction was fulfilled within six weeks. The first questionnaire was administered before laboratory instruction. The prospective chemistry teachers constructed four flow diagrams for four experiments and used them during laboratory instruction. At the end of the application, the second questionnaire was administered to investigate the effectiveness of the flow diagrams. It was found that most of the prospective chemistry teachers comprehended what the flow diagram was and how they were used in the laboratories. Besides, most of the prospective chemistry teachers stated that the flow diagrams were useful for time management and the preparation for the experiments.

Many students have considered the structure of an atom as a difficult topic since it includes abstract concepts. Therefore, students construct mental models in their mind in order to grasp the structure of atoms and these mental models interfere with their learning. This study aims to explore mental models of the high school students and university students related to the atom by examining the studies in the literature in order to portray how students perceive the structure of atoms. In this context, the studies related to the mental models were documented and analyzed by using content analysis. In order to categorize the studies with respect to some certain characteristics, the main themes were formed by the researchers and the analyses were conducted based on these themes. Examining the mental models of the students, it was observed that they drew a solid sphere or some electrons orbiting around the nucleus. Moreover, electron cloud model were the least drawn model even though it was included within the educational programs. Besides, some misconceptions were determined within the studies by examining the mental models of the students. Most of the researchers conducting these studies recommended that modeling should be included more in the instructions of the teachers. Moreover, they suggested that current educational programs should be rearranged in order to eliminate the possible misconceptions pertinent to the structure of an atom.

The effect of attitude and beliefs of students on achievement is the focus of lots of studies. Studies related to conceptions are conducted to analyze both attitude and beliefs. This study is conducted in spring semester of the 2014-2015 academic year with 20 fourth grade Prospective Elementary Science Teachers who enrolled “Chemistry in Daily Life”. As data collection instruments were used chemistry perception scale and semi-structured interview. Chemical perception scale was developed by Wells (2003) and adapted to Turkish by Tosun (2013). Chemistry perception scale consists of 20 questions in 5 dimensions. The instrument was administered to identify prospective elementary science teachers’ chemistry perceptions. At the end of the study, a semi-constructed interview was performed with 5 students. Purpose of the interview was to analyze the affecting factors on perceptions and effect of “Chemistry in Daily Life” on perceptions. In this study, the affecting factors on chemical perception were addressed.

The aim of the study is to discuss the opening of thinking and thinking from the basic concepts of philosophical education on the basis of analytical philosophy and disruptive philosophy and to emphasize importance for chemistry. From primary school to university, including university; the students will be presented with the experiments they will make in the chemistry laboratories, and they are asked to design the experiments accordingly. The student will be able to design the experiment with the thought that he / she has gained in the lessons and will be able to design the experiment with the ability of practical thinking. For this reason, it is important to promote thought and thinking in terms of chemistry education. A holistic approach has been adopted in the working method. Descriptive scanning method was used and concept analysis was done. Individuality, sociocultural factors, and concepts that prepare students to come up with the concepts of thinking and thinking in the study are evaluated, their differences and their importance. In conclusion, the concept of thinking of concept is given in chemistry education. The contribution of thinking education to students and lecturers and some suggestions were presented. Google Translated

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of guided inquiry on understanding of some chemical concepts of preservice science teachers. The study was conducted as The One Group Pretest Posttest Design. The subject of this study consisted of 46 preservice science teachers at a public university in Turkey, and we selected convenience sampling method. The data of the study were obtained from a series of meaningful sentences that students wrote about the chemistry concept of equilibrium, equilibrium constant, Le Châteliers principle, concentration, dissolution, solubility, and precipitation in both before and after the instruction. Consequently, it has been found that there was a rise where the number of students who complete correct and partially correct sentences about the concepts and a decrease where the number of students who underwent vague and misconceptions.

In this study, NUI (Natural User Interface) and HCI (Human Computer Interaction) based AR (Augmented Reality) application has been developed for the chemistry education. Purpose of this study is to design and develop a student-centered AR environment to teach periodic table, and atomic structure of the elements and molecules. HMD (Head Mounted Display) has been used to develop AR system, and user control has been executed with hand motions (grab, drag, drop, select and rotate). The hand motion control has been used to improve spatial abilities of students in order to maximize the transferred knowledge. Use of the most common natural controlling tools (fingers and hands) to interact with virtual objects instead of AR markers or other tools provides a more interactive, holistic, social and effective learning environment that authentically reflects the world around them. In this way, learners have an active role, and are not just passive receptors. Results of this study indicate that the developed NUI-based system is so intuitive and conductive to the RW (Real World) collaboration.

This study aims to determine the knowledge levels of pre-service science teachers about radioactivity. A knowledge test was administered to 56 pre-service science teachers participated in the General Chemistry I course in the fall semester of 2014-15 academic year. Papers derived from the pre-service science teachers were read and evaluated, and the responses were classified as “accurate", "misconception", "wrong" and "empty" categories for open-ended questions and the responses to the multiple-choice questions were classified as "right" and "wrong". The pre-service science teachers’ correct response rates were between 9 % (definition of “nuclear radiation” concept, question 15) and 86 % (radioactivity uses, question 14) in open-ended questions whereas in multiple choice questions the ratio of correct answers ranged from 5 % (concept definition and nuclear reactions, questions 21, 23 and 33) to 98 % (sample of concept, question 20). Students hold misconceptions on the radioactivity, warning picture, nuclear power plant (questions 1, 13, and 16); isotopes (question 4); natural and artificial nucleus reaction (question 6); age of the rocks (question 8); atomic bomb (question 10); hydrogen bomb (question 11) and core irradiation (question 15).