The effects of prospective chemistry teachers' laboratory teaching experiences on their metacognitive thinking skills and perceptions of problem-solving skills

The current study aims to examine the effects of prospective chemistry teachers' chemistry laboratory teaching experiences using different laboratory approaches on their metacognitive thinking skills and perceptions of problem-solving skills. The study is designed as "'the quasi-experimental non-equivalent pre-test/post-test control group research design." Twenty-seven prospective teachers from the Department of Chemistry Education at a public university participated in this study. The prospective chemistry teachers in the experimental group carried out laboratory teaching practices relying on the inquiry-based activities conjugated with a science writing heuristic approach; however, the prospective chemistry teachers in the control group carried out laboratory teaching practices relying on the traditional laboratory approach. The implementation process took 14 weeks. The results showed that there was an overall improvement in the perceptions of problem-solving skills and metacognitive thinking skills in each factor for the prospective chemistry teachers in the experimental group compared to the prospective chemistry teachers in the control group.