A sample of microteaching in environmental education and its effect on pre-service teachers’ presenting effective lessons

In this part, ‘TV program simulation’ offered as a microteaching application in environmental teaching and the effects of TV program application in environmental education course on teacher candidates’ views on lecturing in the class are analyzed.

The effects of TV program on the teacher candidates’ view of lecturing in the classroom

In this part, what kind of effects the TV program arranged as a microteaching application in environmental education course have on teacher candidates view of lecturing are analyzed.

Table 1. t-test Results of Pre-test and Post-test Scores of Pre-service Teachers

Items	Mean		Std. Deviation		df	t	p
Items	Pre-test	Post-test	Pre-test	Post-test	df	t	p
1. I do not know how to make introduction to the lesson.	2.41	1.29	.620	.588	30	7.105	.000(*)
2. The idea of students’ asking questions and not being able to to answer them makes me worried.	2.25	1.48	.681	.569	30	6.013	.000(*)
3. I am anxious about having chaos while using course equipment.	2.16	1.45	.637	.767	30	4.062	.000(*)
4. I am worried about my lectures’ running short.	2.09	1.19	.789	.477	30	5.780	.000(*)
5. The idea of lecturing in front of the students makes me exited.	2.74	1.77	.575	.883	30	5.683	.000(*)
6. I am anxious about making mistakes while lecturing.	2.64	1.41	.608	.620	30	8.957	.000(*)
7. I am worried about not knowing how to correct the mistakes I make while lecturing.	2.58	1.41	.564	.564	30	7.517	.000(*)
8. I feel anxious about my lecture’s being criticized.	2.25	1.32	.773	.599	30	6.100	.000(*)
9. It makes me anxious not to know how to react against irrelevant questions of the students.	2.12	1.51	.805	.625	30	3.712	.001(**)
10. I am worried about not being able to run the lesson smoothly.	2.54	1.54	.623	.722	30	5.981	.000(*)
11. It makes me worried not to react against a student constantly string up trouble during the lesson.	2.16	1.38	.734	.558	30	4.683	.000(*)
12. I am worried about not being able to manage the class.	2.16	1.32	.778	.599	30	5.692	.000(*)
13. The idea of lecturing is enjoyable for me.	2.67	2.74	.540	.575	30	-.528	.601
14. I do not feel myself ready for the role of teaching.	1.96	1.51	.836	.724	30	2.528	.017(*******)
15. I am anxious about not being able to adjust my tone and speaking speed.	2.25	1.45	.681	.675	30	4.747	.000(*)
16. I feel worried about getting confused while lecturing.	2.19	1.54	.654	.675	30	4.758	.000(*)
17. The idea of lecturing in front of the students makes me worried.	2.19	1.29	.654	.692	30	6.368	.000(*)
18. I am anxious about not being able to form meaningful sentences.	2.35	1.51	.608	.625	30	5.692	.000(*)
19. I start to think that I need to learn more when the time to enter the class comes closer.	2.77	2.38	.497	.882	30	2.443	.021(*******)
20. I think the application of teaching should never exist.	1.45	1.29	.675	.642	30	1.153	.258
21. I am worried about generating a group discussion due to the possibility of not being able to control the class.	1.67	1.35	.599	.608	30	2.752	.010(*******)
22. I feel anxious about not being able to simplfy the subject so that students can understand.	1.83	1.29	.734	.461	30	3.592	.001(**)
23. It makes me anxious not knowing how to direct students’ attention and interest to the subject.	2.35	1.32	.550	.540	30	7.228	.000(*)
24. I am anxious about forgetting what to say while lecturing.	2.32	1.41	.652	.672	30	6.053	.000(*)
25. I do not know what kind of demonstration method I should use in subjects requiring applications.	2.22	1.29	.844	.461	30	5.404	.000(*)
26. I do not know what kind of reinforcement I should give to students who correctly contributed to the course.	1.93	1.41	.679	.672	30	2.794	.009(**)
27. I am worried about not being able to contact with the students.	1.87	1.22	.805	.497	30	3.647	.001(**)
28. I am not willing to receive help from the others.	1.67	1.29	.701	.588	30	2.443	.021(*******)
29. I am worried about not being patient while lecturing.	1.74	1.35	.773	.608	30	2.344	.026(*******)
30. I am worried about not being able to control my feelings while lecturing.	1.87	1.38	.763	.667	30	2.802	.009(**)
31. I do not know how to end the course.	2.00	1.25	.730	.514	30	4.625	.000(*)
* p<.001 p<.01 * p<.05 N=31

As it is seen in Table I, the mean score taken from the post-test for the first 5 items (Mean=1.29, 1.48, 1.45, 1.19 and 1.77, respectively), is lower than the mean score of the pre-test (Mean=2.41, 2.25, 2.16, 2.09 and 2.74, respectively) and the difference between the means is statistically significant (t(30)=7.105, 6.013, 4.062, 5.780 and 5.683; p<.001, respectively). These results indicate that after the microteaching application, the pre-service teachers know better how to start the course. Furthermore, it is possible to say that pre-service teachers’ worries resulting from the possibility of not being able to answer students’ questions, anxieties caused by possibility of experiencing chaos in using course equipments, the doubt of their lectures’ running short and their excitement of lecturing in front of the students decreased to a great extent. The post-test means of 6-10 items (Mean=1.41, 1.41, 1.32, 1.51 and 1.54, respectively) are lower than pretest means. (Mean=2.64, 2.58, 2.25, 2.12 and 1.54, respectively) These mean differences were found to be statistically significant according to t-test results (t(30)=8.957, 7.517, 6.100; p<.001, t(30)=.3.712; p<.01 and t(30)=5.981; p<.001, respectively). It is understood that the worries of the pre-service teachers resulting from the possibility of making mistakes, not knowing how to correct the mistakes they can make during the courses, the probability of being criticized, not knowing how to react against the irrelevant questions and not being to able to run the lesson smoothly decreased to a great extent after the TV program microteaching application.

When Table I is analyzed, it is confirmed that the posttest means of the items ‘It makes me worried not to know how to react a student constantly causing trouble.’, ‘I am worried about not being able to manage the class.’, ‘I do not feel myself ready for the role of teacher.’, ‘I am anxious about not being able to adjust my tone and speaking speed’ (Mean=1.38, 1.32, 1.51 and 1.45, respectively) are lower than the pretest means (Mean=2.16, 2.16, 1.96 and 2.25, respectively) .The difference between the means is statistically significant (t(30)=4.683, 5.692; p<.001, t(30)=2.528; p<.05 and t(30)=4.747; p<001, respectively). According to these results, worries of pre-service teachers arising from not knowing how to react against students constantly stringing up trouble during the course, not being able to command the class, not being able to adjust their tones and speaking speed decreased to a great extent depending upon the microteaching application. Moreover, these results indicate that pre-service teachers feel themselves more ready for the role of teaching. For the responses given to the item “The opinion of lecturing is enjoyable for me’, pre-service teachers’ mean score (Mean=2.74) taken from the posttest is higher than the mean score of pre-test (Mean=2.67). However, as a consequence of the t-test, these difference between the means is not statistically significant (t(30)=-.528; p>.05). The post-test scores of the students for 16-19 items (Mean=1.54, 1.29, 1.51 and 2.38, respectively), are significantly lower than the pre-test scores (respectively Mean=2.19, 2.19, 2.35 and 2.77), (t(30)=4.758, 6.368, 5.692; p<.001 and t(30)=2.443; p<.05). It is understood from these results that the level of anxieties of the pre-service teachers stemming from the possibility of feeling confused while lecturing, the idea of giving a lecture in front of the students, and the possibility of not being able to form fluent sentences decreased as a result of the microteaching application. Even though the post-test score for the item “I think that the teaching application should never exist’ (Mean=1.29) is lower than the pre-test score (Mean =1.45), this difference is not statistically significant (t(30)=1.153; p>.05).

Table I indicates that the post-test means of the items between 21-25 analyzed here (Mean=1.35, 1.29, 1.32, 1.41 and 1.29, respectively) are significantly lower than the pretest means (Mean =1.67, 1.83, 2.35, 2.32 and 2.22, respectively), (t(30)=2.752; p<.05, t(30)=3.592; p<.01, t(30)=7.228, 6.053 and 5.404; p<.001, respectively). The differences between the pretest and posttest scores reveal the worries of the pre-service teachers due to reasons such as not being able to generate group discussion owing to the fear of not being able to control the class, not being able to simplify the issues so that the students can understand, not knowing how to direct their attention and interest to the subject, forgetting what to say during the lesson and not knowing what kind of demonstration method they should use in subjects requiring applications decreased to great extent depending upon the microteaching application.

The post-test scores of the pre-service teachers for the last 6 items (Mean=1.41, 1.22, 1.29, 1.35, 1.38 and 1.25, respectively) are found to be significantly lower than pre-test scores (Mean=1.93, 1.87, 1.67, 1.74, 1.87 and 2.00, respectively) (respectively t(30)=2.794, 3.647; p<.01, t(30)=2.443, 2.344; p<.05, t(30)=2.802; p<.01 and t(30)=4.625; p<.001). These results show that the worries of the pre-service teachers resulting from not knowing what kind of reinforcement they should give to the students correctly to contribute to their learning, not being able to make contact with the students, not being able to receive help from others, not being patient during the course, not being able to control their feelings while lecturing and not knowing how to end the lesson decreased to a great extent as a result of the microteaching application.

Table 2. The Results t-test of Pre-test and Post-test Scores for the Pre-service Teachers’ Worries about Lecturing in the Class

Test	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	df	t	p
Pre-test	31	66.19	8.247	30	8.955	.000(*)
Post-test	31	44.00	12.675	30	8.955	.000(*)
* p<.001

As it can be seen in Table II, the pre-service teachers’ post-test mean score (Mean=44.00) for worries about lecturing in the class is significantly lower than pre-test mean score (Mean=66.19) (t(30)=8.955; p<.001). These results prove that TV program based on microteaching technique decreased the worries of the pre-service teachers about lecturing, in other words, their self-confidence increased.