Preservice Science Teachers' Critical Thinking Dispositions: Istanbul University Sample

In this research, it was aimed to determine preservice science teachers' critical thinking dispositions and examine in terms of age, gender and grade level variables. The research was carried out with 178 preservice teachers, registered to Science Education Program at Hasan Ali Yucel College of Education in Istanbul University in the fall semester of 2012-2013 academic year. In the research, Individual Information Form and California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), designed by Facione, Facione & Giancarlo (1998) and adapted to Turkish by Kokdemir were utilized as data collection tools. The data analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 software. According to findings, preservice science teachers' critical thinking dispositions were established as medium level. However, it was determined that CCTDI-T total and subscale scores did not show significant differences according to age. In terms of gender, there were significant differences in favor of female preservice science teachers in truth-seeking and open-mindedness subscales. In addition, when CCTDI-T total and subscale scores investigated according to grade level, significant differences were determined except inquisitiveness and self-confidence dimensions.