PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS OPINIONS ABOUT ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND THE INVESTIGATION OF THEIR MORAL VALUES

Abstract

In this study were investigated the opinions of pre-service science teachers about some ethical principles and their moral values that were acknowledged by them. For this purpose, this study has been carried out with pre-service science teachers (N = 275). Ethical opinions were solicited using a questionnaire which was developed based on a literature review and considering the opinions of experts. The Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ) for the purpose of determining moral values was also used. It was recognised that the pre-service science teachers, in several regions have relativistic ideas about their moral values. At the same time, participants from the Mediterranean region, Central Anatolia and South-Eastern Anatolia have idealist opinions. In the assessment of moral values for teachers in terms of their gender, it may be concluded that females had more idealistic opinions than males. This study is important not only in terms of increasing the awareness of pre-service science teachers about ethical issues, but also for drawing conclusions from the overall results.