Uluslararası İnsan ve Sanat Araştırmaları Dergisi

Öz

The Community Service Applications (CSA) course was introduced for the first time in the Faculty of Education in Turkey during the 2006-2007 academic year. In this study, during the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic year, prospective science teachers who took the CSA course aimed to transform their "Science Street Activities" projects into a science fair outside the classroom. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the opinions of prospective science teachers who participated in the Science Street activities and the science fair during the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic year in the CSA course. Thirteen prospective science teachers who took the CSAcourse participated in the study. All of the students are in their second year of the program. Only one participant is male, while the rest of the students are female .The CSA course consists of a one-hour theoretical session and a two-hour practical session, totaling three hours. Due to the decision made by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) following the Gaziantep-Kahramanmaraş earthquake that occurred on February 6, 2023, the 2022-2023 academic year's spring semester started as online education in February. The course was co-taught by two instructors. The initial weeks focused on introducing the course and the project. Student Activities. Following the Gaziantep-Kahramanmaraş earthquake that occurred on February 6, 2023, the earthquake victims were hosted in different cities. The middle school where the science fair will take place also has a significant number of students from the earthquake-stricken region. Additionally, trauma reactions have been observed even in individuals who were not directly affected by the earthquake (Kirman, 2023). These reactions were also observed by the instructors among our students who took the THU course. Therefore, it was aimed for the upcoming activity to be enjoyable for both the teacher candidates and the students. The teacher candidates were advised to choose activities that are simple, engaging, and fun.The implementation took place a middle school located in the Yıldırım district of Bursa. Yıldırım is a socioeconomically disadvantaged area compared to other districts in Bursa. During the 11th week, the teacher candidates visited the implementation school and created a "Fun Science Street" in the entrance corridor of the school. This study aims to gather the opinions of prospective science teachers regarding the process of organizing and implementing a small science fair. It is planned to address the role of science fairs in science education and the perspectives of the candidates on what they gained from participating in such an event and their experiences during the preparation process. Therefore, the teacher candidates were asked to prepare reflective reports twice throughout the process. The first report includes their opinions on activity selection and preparation during the fair's preparation stage, while the second report focuses on their emotions and thoughts after the fair has been held. This study utilizes a qualitative data analysis method. Student reports were analyzed and interpreted using a systematic framework, following the qualitative data analysis approach suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994). When asked about their feelings and thoughts regarding the activity, the teacher candidates generally expressed that they enjoyed participating in such an event and had a lot of fun. In addition to the enjoyable nature of the activities, they placed great emphasis on the satisfaction they derived from seeing the students having fun. Reflective reports from the teacher candidates frequently mentioned that the experience of interacting with middle school students was exciting for them. It should be taken into consideration that the THU course is a second-year, fourth-semester course, and this was the first middle school visit for these candidates as teacher trainees. When examining the reflective reports in terms of the contributions of participating in such a project, a common perspective can be identified as the experience of "feeling like a teacher." The teacher candidates mentioned that they felt like teachers while spending time with middle school students during the activity, and this feeling also influenced their perspective on the profession. Another aspect highlighted by the participants as a contribution of being involved in the project is the opportunity to prepare experiments with simple materials. The teacher candidates noted that they observed that laboratory conditions were not necessary for every science experiment. They also mentioned that they realized simple experiments could increase middle school students' interest in science. One participant (K12) even mentioned that through this activity, they were able to establish a stronger connection between science and everyday life.