Elementary Education Online, 10(1), 230-243, 2011. İlköğretim Online, 10(1), 230-243, 2011. [Online]: http://ilkogretim-online.org.tr Learning Strategies Used By Biology And Science Teacher Candidates (DEU sample) Rıdvan KETE * Hale SUCUOĞLU ** ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to determine the learning strategies that science and biology teacher candidates use. Data of the study was collected via Learning Strategies Scale Used in Biology. The scale is five- point likert scale. Students attending Science and Biology Departments in the first and last year took place in the study (n=200). Data of the study was analyzed with statistical method. At the end of the study it is determined that teacher candidates use learning strategies frequently, “underlining the important parts” strategy always, “asking a question” strategy sometimes. It is determined that female teacher candidates use more learning strategies rather than male teacher candidates. Learning strategies are used indicate significant differences according to department. Key Words: Learning strategies, biology and science education, teacher candidates SUMMARY Purpose and significance: The purpose of this study is to determine the learning strategies that science and biology teacher candidates use. According to this, 1. In which frequency biology and science teacher candidates use learning strategies? 2. Are there any significant differences between biology and science teacher candidates’ use of learning strategies in terms of departments which they are studying? 3. Are there any significant differences between biology and science teacher candidates’ use of learning strategies in terms of sex? 4. Are there any significant differences between biology and science teacher candidates’ use of learning strategies in terms of the secondary schools they were graduated? Methods: The population of this study is the students which are studying in the Buca Faculty of Education in 2008-2009 educational years. First and last year students who are attending Biology and Science departments (n=200) form the sample. In this research, data was collected via Learning Strategies Scale Used in Biology. The scale is five-point likert scale. Results: It was determined that of the complex memorizing and organization strategies, student candidates always use the strategy “underlining the important parts” (47.5%); very frequently use “try to find out what is important” (55.5%), “try to solve the problems first and then look at the solutions” (45.5%), “marking the important ones” (42.5%); and never use the “simplifying the sentence or statement” strategy. After examining the mean and the standard deviations ,which were related to learning strategies, that science and biology teacher candidates use; it was determined that highest mean of the complex memorizing and organization strategies belong to Biology 1 class ( X =45,08) and the lowest belong to Science 4 class ( X =10,72) in the learning strategy. One way variance analysis were conducted in order to understand if the difference significant or not in these groups’ arithmetic mean points. In the whole scale it was determined that there are significant differences between Biology5 - Biology1 and Science 4-science1 classes. The strategies that student candidates use indicate significant differences in terms of sex [t (198) =3,64 , p<.00]. It was established that female teacher candidates use learning strategies more than male teacher candidates. The significant difference was not established between learning strategies that teacher candidates used and secondary school which candidates graduated. Discussion and Conclusions:Evaluating the data gained at the end of the research generally, it was determined that teacher candidates use learning strategies very frequently. This result is compatible with the results of previous researches (Yüksel ve Koşar, 2001; Somuncuoglu ve Yıldırım, 1999; Erden ve Demirel, 1991; Babadogan, 1996b; Hamurcu, 2002). It can be inferred that teacher candidates use memorizing and underlining the important parts strategies more. The reason for student candidates usage of underlining important parts and marking them could be that they want to skim the information superficially, they want to just write down or underline without putting in their own knowledge, they can not process the knowledge that they learnt. Examining the frequency of usage of the learning strategies in terms of sex, it was determined that female students use learning strategies more than male students. * Yrd. Doç. Dr. Rıdvan KETE, DEU, Buca School of Education,e-mail: ridvan.kete@deu.edu.tr ** Öğr. Gör. Dr. Hale SUCUOĞLU, DEÜ. Buca School of Education,e-mail: hale.kasap@deu.edu.tr