Pre-Service Biology Teachers’ Perceptions of the Concepts of ‘System’ and ‘Biological System’

ABSTRACT

This study investigated how pre-service biology teachers perceived the concepts of ‘system’ – as the basic component of the systems thinking approach – and ‘biological system’ specific to biology. The most important characteristics of a system appear as elements, interactions, interconnections, hierarchy, purpose and forming a whole. The data of the study were collected from students who were studying at the Faculty of Education of a state university in Ankara. The study employed the basic qualitative research approach. A questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions and interviews was utilised to collect the data. The sample consisted of 150 pre-service teachers for the questionnaire and 15 pre-service teachers for the interviews. The collected data were subjected to thematic analysis. It was determined that the pre-service teachers had a general perception of a ‘system’ and a ‘biological system’, but this perception was not as strong as a perception that they could apply in their own educational processes. Systems thinking approach and system concept are critical not only for pre-service biology teachers but also for all other fields. It is considered that it is necessary to positively contribute to the perception of pre-service teachers who are the teachers of the future towards these concepts.

KEYWORDS:

• System
• biological system
• systems thinking
• pre-service teacher
• biology education
• perception

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The study was produced from corresponding author’s doctoral thesis. And the study was supported by Gazi University Scientific Research Projects Unit (BAP). Grant number is 04/2011-37. And we gratefully acknowledge grant support for this. Also the study was presented as an oral presentation at the 4th International Eurasian Educational Research Congress (EJER-2017).