New Perspectives in Science Education

Micro-teaching is a technique that allows teachers and pre-service teachers to examine various aspects of the teaching process. It is an educational approach that can be applied to the professional development of teachers during their pre-service and in-service practices. Effective use of the technique is crucial in order to realize its objectives. In this context, it is important to consider views of pre-service teachers who use this technique to learn about the effectiveness of the micro-teaching method in the lessons. Thus, this study aims to determine the effects of the lessons conducted using micro-teaching technique. The sample of the study consists of 115 junior students who study in Elementary Teaching Departments in two state universities in Turkey within 2016-2017 academic years. In both universities, Science and Technology Teaching II course was conducted by applying micro teaching method for 10 weeks. The data were collected with two scales-five likert type scale and one questionnaire- developed by Kazu (1996). SPSS statistics software program was used for data analysis. The descriptive data obtained from the research are presented by using "arithmetic mean", "percent" and "frequency".   Independent groups t-test was conducted to analyze whether participant views have changed according to ‘university’ variable.  As a result of the research, it was found out that regarding the teaching process based on micro teaching in science teaching, the teacher candidates were more in favor of the items "it helped me to understand the importance of planning before entering a class" and "it helped me to gain experience in choosing and implementing appropriate teaching methods." In addition, they did not concur with the item "I think micro-teaching is not necessary for the preparation and adaptation of the teaching profession." Nevertheless, with this technique, the most and least liked aspects of the lecture were revealed. Finally, it was determined that there was a significant difference between opinions for three items based on university variables. 

Key Words: Micro-teaching, Science education, Pre-service elementary teachers.