Transformative shifts in informal reasoning of pre-service teachers in a real-time health issue

Abstract

COVID-19 became a serious health problem all over the world. This health issue also turned into one of the most striking socio-scientific controversies in recent years. The present study utilized qualitative exploratory methodologies to investigate how pre-service science teachers' informal reasoning transformed over the pandemic's first two months of social distancing and quarantine. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with N = 26 3rd and 4th year pre-service biology teachers studying at a state university in T & uuml;rkiye. Analysis revealed that these preservice teachers' rational decision-making mode and moral-based reasoning decreased in the second interviews, while their emotive and intuitive modes increased. This could be explained by the fact that decision-making mechanisms are likely operating under the influence of different variables in unstructured natural SSI cases, since rational decisions are insufficient for producing solutions during these complex processes. In addition, the results indicated that individuals may hold more than one decision-making mode at the same time when grappling with complex, ill-structured SSIs. Moreover, participants who held multiple perspectives at the beginning tended to consider fewer factors in their decision-making processes at the end of the two-month period. The study contributes to the evolving understanding of science teacher education during times of crisis.