DOI: 10.14686/buefad.1658497 ISSN: 1308-7177

An Investigation of Science Teacher Candidates' Context-Based Question Writing Skills

Kevser Arslan, Elif Benzer
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Purpose: Developments in education and teaching activities in the 21st century have transformed student roles, positioning students as individuals who critically evaluate, question knowledge, and apply it in daily life and problem-solving. The PISA exam, which assesses skills in various domains, stands out in determining whether students have acquired these competencies. Teachers play a crucial role in providing students with opportunities to gain these skills and in evaluating their progress. The first step in achieving the targeted educational standards is the training of teacher candidates. Therefore, equipping teacher candidates with the ability to create context-based texts and formulate questions appropriate to the context is of great importance. Based on this premise, this study aims to thoroughly examine the context-based question-writing skills of science teacher candidates. Method: The study was conducted using a case study design, one of the qualitative research methods. The participants consisted of 34 science teacher candidates. The study was conducted in the "Critical and Analytical Thinking" course conducted by the researcher. The science teacher candidates taking this course created context-based texts on topics of their choice and prepared seven questions for each PISA scientific literacy level based on their texts. The content of the context-based texts and the questions prepared by the teacher candidates constitute the research data. The research data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, one of the qualitative data analysis methods. During the data analysis process, different researchers conducted analyses, and consistency was ensured. Findings: The findings revealed that the context-based questions prepared by science teacher candidates were moderately aligned with the targeted PISA scientific literacy levels. Conclusion: As a result of the research, it was suggested that science teacher candidates’ context-based question-writing skills could be further developed through training during their undergraduate education and through question-writing activities conducted under the supervision of subject matter experts.

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