Abstract:

The aim of the study is to examine the views of pre-service science teachers on virtual museum applications in science education. Case study, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the study. The participants of the study consisted of 29 pre-service teachers studying in the 3rd and 4th grades of the science teaching program. In the study, a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions was used to determine the views of pre-service teachers about the virtual museum before and after the virtual tour. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the obtained qualitative data. At the end of the research, we determined that the pre-service teachers defined the virtual museum as a form of access before the application and technology after the application. In addition, before the application, pre-service teachers stated that the most necessary feature to have to use the virtual museum effectively was the 'using technology', and after the application, it was determined that they gave the most 'technological competence' response. In line with the results obtained, suggestions were made to arrange museum education courses in universities as an optional/compulsory course, to organize activities for the use of virtual museums, and to encourage pre-service teachers to use virtual museums more as a digital course material.

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