The Purposes and Justifications for Preferences of Web 2.0 Tools Used by Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers in Their Teaching Practices in Distance Education Environment

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory changes were required in the field of education, as in many other fields. One of these fields is a teacher training programme, which includes teaching practice. It has become of great importance that pre-service science teachers, who frequently include experiments in their teaching practices in face-to-face education, will carry out this process in online education. This process, experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prompted pre-service science teachers to find something that could replace the wet labs. One of the solutions in this situation is for them to choose and use appropriate Web 2.0 tools in their online lab teaching practices. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the Web 2.0 tools used by pre-service chemistry teachers in their online teaching practices in a distance education environment, the purposes of using these tools, and their justifications for preferences to use these tools. This study was conducted with 15 pre-service chemistry teachers. Data were collected via observations, a form filled out by the participants, and semi-structured interviews in this study. According to the results of this study, it was determined that the participants used 17 Web 2.0 tools during their online teaching practices. The findings highlighted that the most used Web 2.0 tools were Perculus+ chat, Google docs, and Quizizz. Moreover, it was determined that the participants used these tools for 21 different purposes such as drawing students’ attention, getting hypotheses, and designing experiments. The results also indicated that the participants emphasised the ease of the Web 2.0 tool as a justification for the preference for almost all of the Web 2.0 tools they use, regardless of their purposes for using these tools. It is thought that the results can be used to show how to make online or face-to-face teaching practices in teacher training programmes by using Web 2.0 tools more effective in the future.