A TEACHING STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPING THE POWER OF OBSERVATION IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

Despite the importance of observation in knowledge building, it has received less attention than experimental forms of inquiry in science education. Therefore, the aims of this study are to use observation strategies for developing the power of observation in science education and to develop student teachers’ skills of observation process. The data of the qualitative study have been collected sequentially through two different activity steps.The study enabled students (n:33) to make a scientific observation, to follow scientific inquiry processes that starts with formulating questions, and then continues with gathering evidence, organizing, and proposing explanations. It has been observed that during the study students tend to use all their five senses in terms of the quantity of the objects that can be perceived. On the other hand, inquiry based scientific observation not only led students to focus on certain areas but also facilitated a more detailed, systematic and rich outcome observation.