THE VIEWS OF PROSPECTIVE PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS ABOUT THE NATURE OF SCIENCE

Physical education teachers’ gaining the perception of physical education as a discipline and putting their NOS (Nature of science) notion into operation are crucial for the promotion of educational success. The main purpose of this study is to determine prospective physical education teachers’ and physical education graduates’ nature of science perceptions and their attitudes towards using scientific knowledge in their teaching process. This study was carried out through random sampling method. The participants were 232 prospective physical education teachers studying pedagogical formation at Hitit University and Amasya University and undergraduate students studying physical education and sports at Amasya University in 2015-2016 academic years. “The Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale” developed by Rubba and Anderson and translated and adapted in Turkish by Kılıç, Sungur, Çakıroğlu and Tekkaya (2005) was used as the data collection tool. It was revealed in the study that while the variables related to subjects’ gender, grade level and whether they follow scientific developments or not cause statistically differences the variables related to the type of master programme and their ages cause no differences. Through the findings of the study, physical education teachers’ NOS perceptions have been determined and some suggestions have been offered for further studies.