Abstract:

Technology has been developing since the early days of humanity. The process starting with the invention of the wheel, for example, has proceeded with the development of two-wheeled carts and then with today's four-wheeled cars equipped with technology. As technology advances, digital transformation steps are taken in the education and training process. Digital transformation has many contributions both for learning and teaching purposes. For this reason, policies are developed to make more use of technology in education. In this respect, digital literacy levels of pre-service teachers which is one of the most important elements of the teaching-learning process are quietly important. The purpose of the current study is to determine the effects of the variables of grade level, gender, the state of having a social media account and the time spent on various technological tools on pre-service science teachers’ level of digital literacy. The study was conducted on 110 first and fourth-year students attending the department of science teaching. As the data collection tool, the 10-item Digital Literacy Scale was used. The cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient was calculated 0.86 for the original of the scale, the cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was calculated was found 0.88 on the research data. As the data showed a normal distribution, it was decided to use parametric statistical methods. The findings have revealed that the arithmetic mean score of the pre-service teachers’ digital literacy was found to be 3.82 out of 5. This value shows that the pre-service teachers’ level of digital literacy is good. Moreover, the pre-service teachers’ level of digital literacy was found to be varying significantly depending on grade level in favour of the fourth-year students while it was found to be not varying significantly depending on gender, the state of having a social media account and the time spent on various technological tools. It is suggested which students starting their undergraduate education should be provided with activities and applications that will enhance their level of digital literacy.

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