Özet:

The purpose of this study is to determine the pedagogical orientation of a group of Turkish pre-­‐‑ service teachers towards inquiry. The participants in the study were 587 pre-­‐‑service science teachers enrolled in five state universities in Turkey. The researcher developed a Pedagogy of Science Inquiry Continuum Test (PoSICT). The PoSICT consists of six items designated as the six inquiry characteristics of problem/question, procedures/design, results analysis, conclusions, alternative conclusions, results communication. Each item of the test requires choosing one out of four choices that correspond to changing levels of inquiry, starting from confirmation inquiry and ending with open inquiry. The results of the research showed that the pre-­‐‑service teachers’ orientations were at the structured inquiry level. Even though this orientation of the pre-­‐‑service teachers did not correspond to a lower level of inquiry such as the confirmation level, the study found that the characteristics that would require the student to think independently were given to the student by the teacher. The reasons the pre-­‐‑service teachers gave for choosing their inquiry levels were students'ʹ prior knowledge, the student'ʹs role and the teacher'ʹs role. These results indicate that when it is considered that the pre-­‐‑ service teachers were more oriented in a teacher-­‐‑centered pedagogy; changes must be made in their inquiry experience.

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