Abstract:

A competent teacher not only knows how to teach or how to solve the problems encountered in the classroom but also makes decisions about which strategies should be used in certain situations. Besides, a competent teacher should also possess good classroom management skills which considered as the most essential skills required for an effective teaching/learning environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate middle school science teachers’ frequency of observing effective teacher behaviors. Science teachers’ frequency of effective teacher behaviors were examined by means of pre-service science teachers’ observations in elementary schools. Sophomore students at college of education in Turkey are required to take school experience course in semester seven and teaching experience in semester eight. During school experience, students are responsible for observing teaching-learning activities in classroom and extracurricular activities in school. Their observations includes but not limited to several categories related to teachers’ professional skills. 110 pre-service elementary science teachers participated in the study. At the end of the semester eight, a questionnaire which consisted of 25 items about skills related to effective teacher behaviors were administered to pre-service science teachers. Alpha reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.89. Based on their observations in the classrooms the pre-service teachers filled out the questionnaire by indicating the frequencies of teachers’ realizing certain behaviors in classroom. Data was analyzed by using SPSS program. According to the results, teachers were found to be most effective in questioning and wait time and least effective in encouraging students to engage in group and self –evaluations.

Keywords:

Teacher effectiveness, classroom management, science education, pre-service teachers, school experience course.