The Level of Knowledge and Opinions of Science Teacher Candidates on Safety Measurements in General Chemistry Laboratory Studies

Abstract

In general chemistry laboratories of universities, faculty members and students work with chemicals and devices and they are exposed to various risks. For this reason, it is of great importance whether teacher candidates are who are the teachers of future are adequately equipped in terms of laboratory safety or not. This study was conducted on teacher candidates who participated in General Chemistry Laboratory practices in Science Teacher Education program and their opinions and knowledge levels about laboratory safety were investigated. In the study, teacher candidates were informed about the necessary precautions while working in a general chemistry laboratory in 4 courses. Then, in order to increase the awareness and responsibility of the students via the information that taught in courses, the General Chemistry Laboratory Safety questionnaire form given in the appendix was applied. The questionnaire form developed for laboratory safety was applied to 81 teacher candidates. According to the results obtained from the study, it has been found out that teacher candidates mostly find the general chemistry laboratory safety important and understand the importance of information about safety. SPSS 13.0 was used to analyze the consequences of the survey.