AN INVESTIGATION OF BIOLOGYTEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ VIEWS ON TEACHING ABOUT VIRUSES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TURKEY

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the views of Biologyteachers and secondary education students on virus-related subjects taught in secondary education in Turkey. The study adopted the case study deign, one of the qualitative research methods. The participants,who were selected randomly, consistedof 26 Biologyteachers and 51secondary educationstudentson voluntary basis. The data were collected via a semi-structured interview form on viruses that was developed by the researchers. The data were analysedusing content analysismethod.The results revealed that both student and teacher participants’ responses to the question concerning “linking the subject with daily life”showed parallelism; studentparticipants werewell-awarethat their lifewould be affected if the viruses wereactive in their environment, teachers’ competencies were considered important for teaching virus-related subjects; and both student and teacher participants were of the opinion that virus-related subjects couldbe taught more effectively through visual material