ARBORETUMLARIN FEN B?LG?S? Ö?RETMEN ADAYLARININ ?NFORMAL E??T?M ALGILARI ÜZER?NE ETK?S?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal pre-service science teachers? views about informal education in the case of visiting Atatürk Arboretum. The study is a kind of descriptive study. The participants of study are 15 pre-service science teachers who followed the course Environmental Science and are enrolled at a university in Istanbul. The questionnaire, which involves seven open-ended questions, were used as a data collection tool. According to the pre-service science teachers responses, informal learning environments provides individuals as active learners, enable them to make meaningful observation and decisions, and to acquire different viewpoints. On the other hand, some pre-service science teachers had lack of purpose of tour and that?s why, they usually focused on the side of fun and excitement of visiting.