Abstract:

"Measurement" which is the job of determining the magnitude of a quantity and "units" which define a certain magnitude in terms of quantity are very important for fundamental sciences. An international unit system (SI) has been adopted to standardized measurement. "Base units" are defined in "SI" unit system. In this study, it is aimed to determine the knowledge level of physics, chemistry, biology and science teachers candidates about "base units" and "prefixes". Descriptive model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. A total of 196 students studying at the faculty of education at a university located in Turkey participated in the study. "Base Units and Prefixes Open-ended Questionnaire", which was developed by researchers, consisting of three open-ended questions was used as data collection tool in the research. Research data were analyzed with "descriptive statistics", "One Way Analysis of Variance" and "Kruskal Wallis H Test for Unequal Group Size". The results of the research indicate that the pre-service teachers have a medium level of success in "base units" and a low level of success in "prefixes". In addition, it is concluded that the level of knowledge of physics and chemistry teachers candidates on "base units" and "prefixes" subjects are higher than science and biology teachers candidates. Finally, it is concluded that as the level of grade increases, the level of knowledge about "base units" increases, but the level of knowledge about "prefixes" decreases or does not change. The results of the research have been discussed by considering the undergraduate programs and laboratory education. In addition, various recommendations have been presented for teaching the unit of measurement and unit systems in teaching departments.

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