Project Abstract

The project titled "Pre-service Chemistry Teachers' Sensemaking of Chemistry in a Chemical Thinking-Based General Chemistry Laboratory Course" is supported within the scope of the TÜBİTAK 3005 - Innovative Solutions in Social Sciences and Humanities Research Projects Support Program. The project is directed by Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Demet Kırbulut Güneş. The project team also includes Prof. Dr. Hakkı Kadayıfçı, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Halil Tümay, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sevinç Nihal Yeşiloğlu, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurcan Turan Oluk, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinem Gençer, Assist. Prof. Dr. Funda Ekici, Assist. Prof. Dr. Burcu Işık, and Res. Assist. Dilay Dinçdemir as researchers. The project will be conducted at the Gazi University Gazi Faculty of Education Basic Chemistry Laboratory (Chemistry Laboratory 1) and is planned to last for 24 months.

The main purpose of the research is to examine how pre-service chemistry teachers make sense of chemistry in the General Chemistry Laboratory II course, which is conducted based on chemical thinking. Accordingly, it is aimed to develop chemical thinking-based activities that create a context for sensemaking, going beyond traditional laboratory practices. In addition, it is aimed to examine the pre-service teachers' sensemaking processes, epistemic emotions, and reasoning forms during these practices. Within the scope of the project, the effect of the communicative approaches used by the instructors in laboratory practices on the pre-service teachers' chemistry sensemaking processes will also be investigated.

The project will be conducted using the "holistic multiple case study design," which is one of the qualitative research methods. Twenty volunteer pre-service chemistry teachers will participate in the research. In the data collection process, multiple methods such as interviews, observations, and document analysis will be used together. The analysis of the obtained data will be carried out with the content analysis method using the MAXQDA 2024 qualitative data analysis program.

The project is the first original study focusing on the sensemaking processes of pre-service chemistry teachers in the national science education literature. In the international literature, it is the first research to examine sensemaking processes multidimensionally, together with the causes of failure, emotions, and communicative approaches. It is anticipated that the project will directly contribute to the "Science, Technology and Innovation," "Education," and "Environmental Protection" goals of the 12th Development Plan (2024-2028). Raising awareness among pre-service teachers about the effects of chemicals on human health and the environment and developing a sustainable environmental consciousness are also among the important innovative aspects of the project.

The target audience of the project consists of pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, instructors, and researchers. The developed materials and chemical thinking-based laboratory activities will be made available to teachers through digital platforms such as a website and social media. In this way, the integration of the acquired knowledge into classroom teaching practices will be encouraged. In addition, the project will allow undergraduate and graduate students to gain competence in data collection and analysis processes by working as scholars.