Online learning and teaching experiences of preservice science teachers during Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The current study was carried out to determine the opinions of pre-service science teachers on the process of teaching practice conducted online. The study employed the phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods. The study was conducted with the participation of a total of 32 (17 female and 15 male) pre-service teachers attending a state university located in the Central Anatolian Region of Turkey in the spring term of the 2020-2021 academic year. The study's data were collected through the online interviews conducted with the participants and the collected data were analyzed using the content analysis method. As a result of the research, it can be stated that they encountered various obstacles in the process of online teaching practice, they had difficulty in providing classroom management and they were anxious. On the other hand, the participants also think that online teaching practice has advantages such as accessing information at the desired place and time, saving time and giving place to different online activities. In the light of these results, suggestions were made such as increasing the knowledge level of educators about online applications, providing hardware support to stakeholders and strengthening the infrastructure.