INVESTIGATION OF THE ATTITUDE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHING CANDIDATES TO TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Introduction: Technology and technological developments, along with the rapid spread of information, emerge as a factor that makes life easier and changes life. Especially as a result of the epidemic caused by the virus called Covid-19 in 2020, people's lifestyles, habits and the way of service provided to them had to change. The educator who will adopt the technology must improve himself and change his attitude towards technology. It has been essential to conduct studies covering attitudes, perceptions and skills towards technology. In this direction, this study is important in terms of revealing the attitudes of classroom teacher candidates towards technology and the extent to which they benefit from technological opportunities and possibilities.
Method: Since the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards technology were examined in the study, the scanning method was used as a quantitative research type. The study group consists of 227 teacher candidates studying in the 3rd and 4th grade of the Department of Primary School at the Faculty of Education of two different universities. As a data collection tool, Technology Attitude Scale developed by Yavuz (2005) was used. The scale consists of 5-point Likert type and 19 items. The data of the research were analyzed using the SPSS 21.0 program. The data obtained after the scale was applied were transferred to the program properly.
Results: According to the gender variable, the scores students got from the technology attitude scale were compared. There is a significant difference in favor of female pre-service teachers according to the results of the independent t test conducted between the average scores of the male pre-service teachers and female pre-service teachers from the Technology Attitude Scale. According to independent t test results, there is no statistically significant difference in favor of any group between the average scores of the Technology Attitude Scale of the third-grade teacher candidates and the fourth-grade teacher candidates. As a result of Kruskal Wallis-H, which was made to determine whether the mean scores of the Technology Attitude Scale differ significantly according to the academic averages of the teacher candidates, the difference between the averages of the groups is not statistically significant.
Conclusion: As a result of the research, when a comparison was made between the gender of the candidates, it was observed that there was a significant difference in favor of female teacher candidates. When we look at their academic averages, we can say that 3rd grade students have more attitude towards technology compared to 4th grade students. It is recommended that pre-service teachers who will take part in our education system, which has changed and adapted due to a global epidemic, should determine their attitudes towards technology and carry out remedial studies. It is thought that this study will shed light on the remedial work that can be done.