An Examination of Understandings of Prospective Teachers About Science and Science History

The purpose of this study was to reveal beliefs of prospective teachers about “science” and “science history”. The qualitative research approach was employed in the study. The study group consisted of 150 prospective teachers. A form developed by the researcher was used for data collection. The form consisted of open-ended questions. The data was analyzed using the content analysis method. As a result of the study, it was found that the prospective teachers explained science and science history mostly with the procedural understanding dimension. It was also found that the prospective teachers attributed the low number of female scientists mostly to socio-cultural factors, and success in science to cognitive factors. Lastly, the prospective teachers had positive beliefs about the contribution of science history to cognitive and affective domains, and believed that enriching courses with science history could be done by adopting a teacher-centered approach which involves the teacher’s explaining lives, works, or inventions of various scientists. It is recommended that conceptual, procedural, and contextual dimensions of science are addressed in courses related to science history, and prospective teachers should be informed about how to use science history in their classes.


Introduction
Since the beginning of history, humans have wanted and tried to dominate the nature.Hence, it has become a significant need for humans to understand and explain the universe and the environment (Yildirim, 2003).This need is met by science, which is a mental process.Derived from the Latin word "scientica", referred to as "wissenschaft" in German and "ilim" or "fen" in Ottoman Turkish, science can be defined as "obtaining knowledge, research for the purpose of learning" (Dogan, 2016, p.3). Science can be defined as "accumulation of knowledge striving to establish laws related to a certain part of the universe or certain events by utilizing empirical methods and tools" (Turkish Language Association Dictionary [TLAD], 2011, p.339).Science is a common product of the humanity, and the process has begun with the emergence of the humankind.While changing life conditions of people with technology on one hand, science also gives a rational quality to our thinking on the other (Yildirim, 2003).There have been significant changes in outlook to science throughout its historical process, and the traditional view of science has been replaced by the contemporary view of science (Bilen, 2015).Based on the study conducted by Palmquist and Finley (1997), characteristics of traditional and contemporary views of science may be explained as follows: In the traditional view, science consists only of knowledge.In this view, the purpose of science is to reach true knowledge through experiment.In the contemporary view, science is an experience, a process, a venture relying on competition, and an organization of information to better understand the nature.Also, science consists of numerous disciplines and methods in this view.
Since to know the past has a significant role in understanding today and tomorrow, humans frequently refer to history (Topdemir & Unat, 2008).In this context, science can only be understood by examining it with its historical development process (Yildirim, 2007).The historical development process of science is addressed by history, which has been gaining popularity in recent years.Science history was introduced to fill the gap between science and history (Fazlioglu, 2004).Science history aims to illuminate the development process of all branches of science; however, it focuses on separate histories of all branches (Tekeli et al., 2007).In this sense, science history can be defined as birth and development stories of branches of science (Ortas, 2005a).It is also possible to define science history as a discipline which addresses how science came to existence, contributions made to science, specific dates of such contributions, and efforts made and methods used by scientists to contribute to science (Tekeli et al., 1997).
Science history does not only mention what people of old did; it also serves as a step for new scientific and technological developments by opening new horizons (Bayrakdar, 2009).Studying science history allows students to see science as an occupation which they can understand and contribute to (Appelget, Matthews, Hildreth, & Daniel, 2002).This may help raise contemporary scientists who can use their imagination and creativity, act with curiosity, and inquire about various topics.Science history is also useful in that it helps students think about the importance of science and understand it with its various aspects (Topdemir & Unat, 2008).
Teachers may use science history improve students' conceptual, procedural, and contextual understandings regarding science (Wang & Marsh, 2002).The conceptual dimension of science pertains to how scientific ideas are described and their role in science history (Lacin Simsek, 2011).In order to improve conceptual understanding related to science, it is necessary to emphasize that scientific knowledge could change with new discoveries and enrich it with a historical perspective (Lacin Simsek, 2009).The procedural dimension of science involves processes such as thinking, experimenting, questioning, researching, decision-making, inferring, extrapolating, elaborating, reporting, and implementing (Wang & Marsh, 2002).As a process, science can be considered as a pattern of operational and mental procedures (Yildirim, 2007).The contextual dimension of science involves "how scientific research improves people's life quality" (Kocyigit & Pektas, 2017), and "characteristics and working conditions of scientists, and the relationship between development of scientific knowledge and economic, psychological, social, cultural, and political conditions of scientists" (Lacin Simsek, 2011).In summary, students may better understand conceptual, procedural, and contextual dimensions of science by studying science history.Also, learning these three different dimensions of science may allow students to develop an accurate and contemporary understanding about science.
Although science history is one of the significant concepts of recent years (Justi & Gilbert, 1999;Rutherford, 2001;McComas, 2008), it has been a neglected subject in Turkey, from primary school to university level (Ortas, 2005b).Science history has been added to the curriculum in undergraduate programs with the reconstruction of undergraduate programs in the faculty of education in 2006 (Council of Higher Education [CoHE], 2007).This has resulted in the addition of the "Nature of Science and Science History" course in the science teaching program, and the "Science History" course in mathematics teaching, guidance and psychological consulting, and computer and educational technologies teaching programs.In these courses, prospective teachers learn about contributions of different civilizations and scientists to science and science history throughout the historical process of science (Bozdogan, Sengul, & Bozdogan, 2013).Learning about working conditions of scientists, the development of science and factors affecting it brings along an accurate understanding of science and science history (Monk & Osborne, 1997).Considering these benefits, addition of courses related to science history into undergraduate programs may be seen as a big step.Using science history in courses is quite important in that it helps students understand science and science history (Abd-El-Khalick, 2005;Posnanski, 2010;Yenice, 2015).However, it is necessary to find our awareness levels of prospective teachers regarding science and science history in order to make effective use of science history in courses.

Literature Review
Some studies in the literature on opinions of teachers and prospective teachers about science and science history are briefly summarized below: Akerson, Abd-El-Khalick, and Lederman (2000) found that prospective teachers and teachers had limited information about subjective aspects of science and its relationship with society and culture in particular.Celik (2003) revealed that prospective teachers defined science mostly with dimensions of process and information structure, and their understanding about the nature of scientific knowledge was compatible with contemporary scientific approaches.Kenar (2008) revealed that senior prospective science teachers had contemporary views about the creative and imaginative nature of science.Aslan, Yalcin, and Tasar (2009) found that science teachers had sufficient knowledge about effects of social and cultural factors on scientists and scientific studies; however, they had limited knowledge and misconceptions about the definition of science.
In a study conducted by Lacin Simsek (2011), it was found that science and technology teachers had an inadequate understanding about the importance of science history, and mostly used science history to contribute to improvement of their students in the cognitive domain.Also, it was observed that teachers taught science history by telling life stories of scientists, mentioning historical development processes of scientific subjects, giving research or project assignments, presenting examples from science history for certain subjects, and telling stories from science history.Ayvaci and Senel Coruhlu (2012) found that about one fourth of prospective science and technology teachers defined science as "accumulation of knowledge striving to establish laws related to a certain part of the universe or certain events by utilizing empirical methods and tools".Hacieminoglu, Ertepinar, and Yilmaz-Tuzun (2012) revealed that prospective science teachers had positive perceptions about the use of science history in courses; however, had insufficient knowledge about science history.Also, a high correlation was found between perceptions and applications of prospective teachers related to science history.Finally, after starting their careers as teachers, the most frequently addressed dimension by prospective teachers in their applications related to science history was found to be the conceptual dimension, whereas the contextual dimension was mentioned the least.Sarac (2012) revealed that prospective and in-service classroom teachers had contemporary opinions related to the effect of science on the society, the effect of the society on science, and the nature of scientific knowledge.Atalay (2013) found that science and technology teachers had limited knowledge about the empirical and indeterminate nature of science, observation and inference in science, and social and cultural influences in science, while they had sufficient knowledge about the significance of creativity and imagination in science.Cinar and Koksal (2013) found that prospective social studies teachers had contemporary opinions about scientific observation, the changeability of scientific knowledge, and cause-effect relationships in science, whereas they had traditional opinions about the definition of science, scientific methods, and basic assumptions of science.Yenice, Ozden, and Balci (2015) determined that prospective science and classroom teachers had contemporary ideas about the society-science and science-society interaction, characteristics of a scientist, the provisionality and changeability of scientific knowledge.Cetiner (2016) revealed that physics activities involving initial experiments in science history maintained prospective teachers' interest in the course, helped them understand basic concepts in physics, and ensured positive attitudes toward the activity.
No study was found investigating understandings of prospective teachers on both science and science history.For this reason, it is believed that there is a need for detailed studies on concepts of science and science history, opinions of prospective teachers about these concepts.We believe that this study, which was conducted with the idea that it would fill a significant gap in the literature related to determining understandings of prospective teachers regarding science and science history, will be useful for prospective teachers, teachers, and academics who want to acquire knowledge about science and science history, and contribute to the literature in this sense.

The Aim of the Study
An examination of reformation efforts in Turkish, Australian, Chinese, Canadian, New Zealand, South American, British, and American educational systems would reveal that science and science history were added as basic concepts in curricula of these countries (Yenice, 2015).The addition of science and science history to curricula may be seen as an important step.Considering that those who will implement these curricula are raised in the faculty of education, it is important to determine beliefs of prospective teachers enrolled in various programs regarding science and science history.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to reveal beliefs of prospective teachers about science and science history.

Method
This is a qualitative study conducted to determine beliefs of prospective teachers about science and science history.Qualitative research is a method used to examine beliefs emerging from experiences of participants in a systematic manner (Ekiz, 2009).The qualitative research approach was employed in the present study to examine beliefs of participants emerging from their personal experiences in a systematic manner (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

Study Group
The maximum diversity sampling was used in the study to collect more comprehensive data for the solution of the research problem and reflect the diversity among individuals at the highest level possible (McMillan & Schumacher, 2006).The study group consisted of senior prospective teachers.1, 150 prospective teachers participated in the study.119 participants were female and 31 were male.

Implementation Process
First of all, the prospective teachers were informed about the study explaining that it was a research on male and female scientists who had contributed to science and history.In order to include as many scientists as possible, each prospective teacher was assigned a different scientist.The prospective teachers made presentations of about 20 minutes on scientists in the "Science History" course or the "Nature of Science and Science History" course.Science history was examined under eight periods (Yorukogullari & Ihsanoglu, 2013), and scientists were selected from each period shown in Table 2.  2, the prospective teachers were assigned a total of 150 scientists to research.
The prospective teachers were asked to research a given scientist.Some criteria were developed to help the prospective teachers prepare their presentations, and better understand conceptual, procedural, and contextual dimensions of science and science history.These criteria included "the period when the scientist lived and life conditions in this period", "the life, works, inventions, and quotes of the scientist", "significant events, anecdotes, or stories from the scientist's life", "reasons driving the scientist to work and research, and challenges faced by the scientist in the process" (Yildiz & Gokcek, 2013).
In the first three weeks of the "Science History" course and the "Nature of Science and Science History" course, the prospective teachers were given information about characteristics of science, science history, the purpose of science history, learning and teaching science history, and contributions of different civilizations from different geographic regions to science (Science in Central Asia, China, India, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Anatolia, Aegean Basin, Ionia, and Ancient Greece).Then, the prospective teachers made their presentations about their given scientist.During the presentations, the researcher touched upon important points, and held discussions with the prospective teachers using the question-answer method.After all the presentations were completed, pictures of scientists were printed on rugs, and puzzles related to various scientists were prepared to help students familiarize with scientists.These materials were presented in the "Science History Exhibition" for two days.The prospective teachers in the Elementary School Mathematics Teaching program (between 09:00-12:00) and the Science Teaching program (between 13:00-16:00) provided visitors with information about scientists for the first day, and the prospective teachers in the Guidance and Psychological Counseling program (between 09:00-12:00) and the Computer and Educational Technologies Teaching program (between 13:00-16:00) took the shift for the second day.

Data Collection Tool
It is noted in the literature that there is an increasing need for researching beliefs of individuals related to science history in detail (Metin, 2009).For this reason, the researchers developed a qualitative data collection tool consisting of open-ended questions to collect in-depth information about beliefs of individuals related to science history (Lederman, Abd-El-Khalick, Bell, & Schwartz, 2002).A form consisting of six open-ended questions was used for data collection.The form had two sections.The first section contained questions about genders and undergraduate programs of the prospective teachers.The second section included six open-ended questions about science and science history.Blank spaces were left under each question for answers.A literature review was performed to create the questions, and contents of the "Science History" course and the "Nature of Science and Science History" course were examined.Thus, the questions on the definition of science and science history, factors enabling success in science, reasons behind the low number of female scientists, benefits of learning science history, how to use science history in courses were created, and a pilot study was conducted with 15 prospective teachers using the draft form.The questions in the form were reviewed after the pilot study, and the results were presented to three experts.The questions in the form were finalized in accordance with expert opinions.The questions used in the study were as follows: "How would you define science?", "How would you define science history?", "What are the factors enabling success in science?Why?", "What is the reason behind the low number of female scientists in science history?", "What are the benefits of using science history in courses?", and "How could we enrich courses using science history?"

Collection of Data
The form was applied to the prospective teachers at the end of the study.The research and presentation process of the prospective teachers took 11 weeks to complete.The form was applied one week after the science history exhibition.Thus, the information retained in minds of the prospective teachers was determined.

Data Analysis
The data was analyzed using the content analysis method.In content analysis, the data is firstly conceptualized, and then logically organized and categorized based on resulting concepts (Yildirim & Simsek, 2011).Firstly, the researcher examined answers given by the prospective teachers and divided them into meaningful parts.These were then named and coded by the researcher.Then, the resulting codes were brought together, and common aspects among the codes were determined.Based on these common aspects, the categories were created to gather the codes under certain concepts.Then, the data was organized according to the codes and the categories.The results of the analysis were presented in tables with frequency and percentage values.Since some prospective teachers used more than one code in their answers, the sum of code frequencies may be higher than the total number of prospective teachers.In order to improve the validity and internal consistency of the findings, sample sentences related to opinions of the prospective teachers about science and science history were given below the tables without any changes.As required by research ethics, the prospective teachers were named as "P1, P2, P3, ... , P150".
The forms filled by the prospective teachers were encoded by the researcher for reliability calculations, and the resulting codes were placed under certain categories.The resulting codes and categories were submitted to an expert with substantial experience in qualitative data analysis.Then, the researcher and the expert reviewed the agreement level in the forms filled by the prospective teachers.The researcher and the expert discussed the codes causing conflict and agreement, and necessary adjustments were made.The reliability coefficient was calculated to be 89% using the following formula (Miles & Huberman, 1994): [Agreement / (Agreement + Disagreement) x 100].Studies with a reliability value above 70% indicate are accepted to be reliable (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Results
The categories and codes derived from answers given by the prospective teachers were presented in tables.
The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to the definition of science can be seen in Table 3 together with frequency and percentage values:  3, the definitions of science made by the prospective teachers gathered under three different categories; "procedural understanding", "conceptual understanding", and "contextual understanding".Also, 20.0% of the prospective teachers defined science procedurally as "the endeavor or process of understanding the nature", 25.3% defined it conceptually as "the set of systematic knowledge", and 13.3% defined it contextually as "all information or works which facilitate human life".Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to codes 1, 8, and 11 in Table 3 can be found below: "Science is an intellectual endeavor which reveals reasons behind and connections between natural events, and institutionalizes this knowledge.(P11)" "Science is the set of systematic knowledge which represents the cause-effect relationship between natural events.(P34)" "Science is all information generated and works performed to facilitate human life.(P35)" The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to the definition of science history can be seen in Table 4 together with frequency and percentage values: As shown in Table 4, the definitions of science made by the prospective teachers gathered under two different categories; "procedural understanding" and "contextual understanding".Also, 47.3% of the prospective teachers defined science history procedurally as "examination of science's historical development process", and 3.3% defined it contextually as "works performed by the humankind in order to understand their environment, survive, and facilitate life".Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to codes 1 and 12 in Table 4 can be found below: "Science history is the development process of science throughout the history.(P84)" "Science history is the examination of science with its historical development process.(P88)" "Science history addresses works performed by the humankind in order to understand their environment, survive, and facilitate life.(P12)" The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to cognitive factors necessary for success in science can be seen in Table 5 together with frequency and percentage values:  5, 23.3% of the prospective teachers mentioned "hard work", 16.7% mentioned "being intelligent", and 6.7% mentioned "listening" as a cognitive factor necessary for success in science.Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to codes 1, 2, and 3 in Table 5 can be found below: "What leads to success is being intelligent and hardworking, and keeping your mouth shut.Being male or female is not a criterion for success.(P2)" "Gender has no role in scientific success… To be successful in science, one needs to be intelligent, hardworking... and keep one's mouth shut.(P3)" "Albert Einstein said one needs to be intelligent, work hard, and keep one's mouth shut to be successful.These are what one needs to be successful in science.(P10)" The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to affective factors necessary for success in science can be seen in Table 6 together with frequency and percentage values:  6, 8.7% of the prospective teachers mentioned "being ambitious", 6.0% mentioned "being brave", and 5.3% mentioned "being patient" as an affective factor necessary for success in science.Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to the first three codes in Table 6 can be found below: "…Being ambitious and brave leads to success in science… (P15)" "…Being successful in science requires courage, ambition, patience, and most importantly, intelligence… (P8)" "…Being successful requires patience, hard work, and intelligence not only in science, but in any field.(P10)" The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to reasons behind the low number of female scientists can be seen in Table 7 together with frequency and percentage values: As shown in Table 7, the reasons behind the low number of female scientists mentioned by the prospective teachers gathered under three different categories; "socio-cultural factors", "psychological factors", and "economic factors".Also, the "Being denied a voice or an opportunity" code stood out in the socio-cultural factors category, whereas the "men's desire to play a dominant role" code stood out in the psychological factors category.The only code that stood out in the economic factors category was "lack of opportunities".Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to codes 1, 19 and 22 in Table 7 can be found below: "…Ruth Moufang completed her graduate studies in spite of great difficulties caused to her due to her gender, and was later denied a lectureship on account of her gender.She worked in private industry for ten years… (P16)" "…Men's desire to play a dominant role prevented women from take steps in science.(P95)" "…The number of female mathematicians is unfortunately low due to lack of opportunities.However, works of female mathematicians take an important place in history.( P15)" The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to benefits of using science history for the cognitive domain can be seen in Table 8 together with frequency and percentage values:  8, 17.3% of the prospective teachers mentioned "learning about lives, works, inventions, or quotes of scientists", 16.0% mentioned "having more permanent knowledge" and 14.7% mentioned "improving general knowledge" as benefits of science history for the cognitive domain.Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to codes 1, 2, and 3 in Table 8 can be found below: "…The student learns about the information available to people in those periods, how they used the information, and challenges that they encountered… (P45)" "…We learn about those who introduced and proved axioms, theories, and hypotheses that are available today, and challenges faced by scientists to engage in mathematics… (P52)" "…The information learned by introducing a scientist is always more permanent.(P26)" "It is quite useful to improve general knowledge..

. (P114)"
The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to benefits of using science history for the affective domain can be seen in Table 9 together with frequency and percentage values:  9, 38.0% of the prospective teachers mentioned "holding up lives, works, inventions, or quotes of scientists as examples", 15.3% mentioned "attracting attention or interest", and 10.0% mentioned "providing guidance" as benefits of science history for the affective domain.Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to the first three codes in Table 9 can be found below: "The student can hold up works and efforts of male and female mathematicians as examples… (P41)" "…When we provide information about a scientist when explaining a subject, it is easier to attract the student's attention.(P46)" "Lives of scientists, the path that they followed, the way that they thin, and their other personality traits can provide us with guidance… (P93)" The codes derived from answers of the prospective teachers related to how to enrich the course using science history can be seen in Table 10 together with frequency and percentage values:  10, the suggestions of the prospective teachers about how to enrich the course using science history gathered under three different categories; "teacher-centered", "material-aided", and "student-centered".Also, the "The teacher may tell about lives, works, or inventions of scientists."code stood out in the teacher-centered category, whereas the "The teacher may have students write letters about lives of scientists."code stood out in the material-aided category, and the "The teacher may have students hold interviews about lives of scientists."code stood out in the student-centered category.Some quotes from the prospective teachers corresponding to codes 1, 9, and 20 in Table 10 can be found below: "We can briefly tell about Pythagoras' life when explaining the Pythagorean Theorem in the mathematics class… (P33)" "We can make use of science history by telling about lives and discoveries of scientists in mathematics classes… (P48)" "…We can have students put themselves in shoes of a scientist, and write letters about the life of that scientist, or create interviews imagining how that scientist would answer questions… (P11)" "We can write about lives of scientists in the form of a letter.We can interview scientists.(P20)"

Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations
The findings obtained in this study aiming to reveal beliefs of prospective teachers about science and science history were discussed in light of the literature, and the following results were found: It was found that the prospective teachers explained science mostly with the procedural understanding dimension.In this context, the prospective teachers defined science mostly as "the endeavor or process of understanding the nature" and "the endeavor or process of understanding the universe".Similarly, Ayvaci and Senel Coruhlu (2012) and Celik (2003) found that prospective teachers tended to define science with its procedural dimension.Another interesting finding was that the prospective teachers had contemporary views about science.Kenar (2008) relieved that prospective science teachers had contemporary views about the creative and imaginative nature of science.Cinar and Koksal (2013) found that prospective social studies teachers had traditional views about the definition of science.It was found that the prospective teachers explained science history mostly with the procedural understanding dimension as well.In this context, a significant portion of the prospective teachers defined science history as "an examination of science's historical development".We believe that the criteria given to the prospective teachers to use when researching scientists helped them better understand the procedural dimension of science and science history.Hacieminoglu et al. (2012) found that, after starting their careers as teachers, the most frequently addressed dimension by prospective teachers in their applications related to science history was the conceptual dimension, whereas the contextual dimension was mentioned the least.Hence, it is possible to improve understandings of prospective teachers about science and science history by emphasizing each of the conceptual, procedural, and contextual dimensions of science.
It was found that the prospective teachers attributed success in science mostly to cognitive factors.In this context, the prospective teachers frequently mentioned the necessity of intelligence, hard work, and keeping one's mouth shut.We believe that the reason behind the high frequency of these codes was the discussion held about Albert Einstein's famous quote, "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z.Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." in the first week of the courses about science history.Also, it was observed that the prospective teachers gave examples about factors leading to scientific success with a wide perspective.However, the frequency of these examples was low in spite of their high variety.If science history is addressed as a whole without ignoring any of its dimensions; conceptual, procedural, and contextual, the frequency of codes such as "enjoying science and hard work", "being curious", "thinking", or "researching and observing" may be improved.Thus, it may be possible to raise prospective teachers who think as contemporary scientists.
Although men and women have been working together in both social and scientific environments since the emergence of the humankind (Kocak, Taskin, & Ozpinar, 2010), female scientists have not been able to demonstrate their talent on the desired level due to various reasons such as social and familial pressure (Yildiz & Hacisalihoglu-Karadeniz, 2017).It was found that the prospective teachers attributed the low number of female scientists mostly to socio-cultural factors as well.The prospective teachers explained the reasons behind the low number of female scientists as "being denied a voice or an opportunity" and "social pressure".This and other finding in Table 7 indicate that the prospective teachers were informed about the effects of social and cultural factors on science, and explained the low number of female scientists mostly with the contextual dimension of science.Akerson, Abd-El-Khalick, and Lederman (2000) found that prospective teachers and prospective teachers had limited information about the relationship of science with society and culture.Aslan et al. (2009), on the other hand, found that prospective science teachers had sufficient knowledge about the influence of social and cultural factors on scientists and scientific research.Sarac (2012) and Yenice et al. (2015) revealed that prospective teachers had contemporary views about the effects of science on the society and the effects of society on science.Atalay (2013), on the other hand, found that prospective science teachers had limited knowledge about the effects of social and cultural factors on science.It should be remembered that scientists are not only affected by the contextual dimension of science, but also its conceptual and procedural dimensions as well.Hence, courses on science history should emphasize the conceptual dimension of science in order to help prospective teachers develop an understanding about what scientific thinking means and roles of scientific thinking.Also, the procedural dimension of science should not be ignored, too, in order to ensure prospective teachers understand how scientists think, how they carry out their research, how they analyze data, how they decide on results, and how they report these results.
The prospective teachers were found to have positive beliefs about the benefits of science history for the cognitive domain and the affective domain.The most commonly mentioned beliefs included learning about lives, works, inventions, or quotes of scientists and holding up to them as good examples.We believe that having prospective teachers make presentations about contributions of scientists from different periods in courses related to science history allowed them to learn lives, works, inventions, or famous quotes of scientists.Lacin Simsek (2011) revealed that reasons behind science and technology teachers' using science history in courses were mostly related to the cognitive domain.Cetiner (2016) found that activities related to science history improved prospective teachers' interest in the course, helped them understand concepts more easily, and ensured that they developed positive attitudes towards the course.Thus, it is evident that science history can be used to improve cognitive and affective traits of students.Explaining how old mechanical tools were developed and used, bringing examples of these tools to the classroom, creating simple models, or having students create such models may improve psychomotor skills of students.
The prospective teachers were found to believe that enriching courses with science history was mostly possible with teacher-centered approaches.In this context, the most common belief mentioned by the prospective teachers was "telling about lives, works, or inventions of scientists" as a way to benefit from science history in classes.This might be a result of the fact that the prospective teachers were asked to make presentations about lives, inventions, ideas, or scientific contributions of scientists throughout the study.Lacin Simsek (2011) found that science and technology teachers used science history in their classes by "telling life stories of scientists", "explaining the historical development processes of scientific subjects", "giving research or project assignments", "presenting examples from science history for certain subjects", and "telling stories from science history".This might be caused by books on science history and textbooks used in schools.Because Karabag (2015) found that history books used at the high school level usually included information about names and lives of scientists in relation to science history.The same examples related to science history are repeated over and over in popular books and textbooks, and science history is taught based on these examples (Metz, Klassen, McMillan, Clough, & Olson, 2007).It may be natural for the prospective teachers to give examples from lives, works, and inventions of scientists.On the other hand, the number of examples about how to use science history in courses was observed to be higher.The reason behind the high number of examples was that some codes in Table 10 (such as writing letters, showing movies or videos, preparing posters and puzzles, telling stories or anecdotes) were used by the prospective teachers for their presentations.This might have caused an increase in their knowledge about how to use science history in courses.This may be accepted as a positive development.However, the frequency of examples was not so high.This might indicate low awareness or limited knowledge about how to use science history in courses.It was noted in the literature that teachers (Lacin Simsek, 2011) and prospective teachers (Hacieminoglu et al., 2012) had limited knowledge about science history.Therefore, teaching prospective teachers how to use science history in courses may positively influence and improve their views about science and science history.
Recommendations based on the results of this study are presented below: • It was found that the prospective teachers explained science and science history mostly with the procedural dimension, and the other dimensions were pushed into the background.For this reason, conceptual and contextual dimensions of science should also be emphasized.
• The prospective teachers attributed the low number of female scientists to "being denied a voice or an opportunity" and "social pressure".Such socio-cultural factors cause significant problems, and push women to the background.In order to prevent this situation, it is recommended that "Gender Equality" is added to undergraduate programs as an optional subject.Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's quote, "Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men.Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored?Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains that the other half can soar into skies!"should guide everyone in terms of gender equality (Demirgoz Bal, 2014).Also, another reason suggested by the prospective teachers for the low number of female scientists was the use of the term "science man" instead of "science person", which is a usage specific to the Turkish language.In this context, more caution needs to be exercised in relation to the use of the term "science person" instead of "science man" in classes, textbooks, and curricula.
• The prospective teachers were observed to lack the desired knowledge about the use of student-centered and material-aided approaches to use science history in courses.For this reason, prospective teachers can be provided with information about how to use student-centered and material-aided approaches in the "Science History" course and the "Nature of Science and Science History" course.Also, prospective teachers should be provided with opportunities to develop sample materials and activities related to the use of material-aided, teacher-centered, and student-centered approaches to teach science history, and also opportunities to implement these materials and activities in schools within the scope of the teaching applications course.Finally, revising the contents of the "Science History" course and the "Nature of Science and Science History" course and responsibilities of academics teaching these courses may be useful to this end.
In summary, this study was performed with 150 senior prospective teachers.Enriching the study with different study groups and research patterns may improve the validity of the findings.Also, the present study was conducted after the prospective teachers had taken the "Science History" course or the "Nature of Science and Science History" course.It may be useful to investigate their beliefs about science and science history before these courses.

Table 4 .
The definition of science history according to the prospective of lives, works, inventions, and mental frames of scientists 18 12.0 4.Examination of generation, development, and use conditions of information 17 11.3 5.Examination of all scientific work throughout the history 15 10.0 6.Process which explains how science and technology are used by the humankind and what changes the use of science and technology cause in

Table 2 .
The periods examined within the scope of the study and the number of scientists selected for each period

Table 3 .
The definition of science according to the prospective teachers

Table 5 .
Cognitive factors necessary to succeed in science according to the prospective teachers

Table 6 .
Affective factors necessary to succeed in science according to the prospective teachers

Table 7 .
Reasons behind the low number of female scientists according to the prospective teachers

Table 8 .
Benefits of using science history for the cognitive domain according to the prospective teachers

Table 9 .
Benefits of using science history for the affective domain according to the prospective teachers

Table 10 .
How to enrich the course using science history according to the prospective teachers