The need for cognition of Preschool Prospective Teachers and their views on the need for cognition (The case of Pamukkale University)

Abstract

Extended Abstract: Recently, thinking has been evaluated as a learnable skill and lots of approaches to developing thinking have been put forward. For this reason, there has been some environments established that develops thinking, which provide practicing of their skills, by evaluating students' cognitive capacity in teaching situations. It is important for individuals to be eager in the exercises that are based on thinking to use their thinking structures effectively. The feature of eagerness in exercises that are based on thinking has been defined as the need for cognition by Cacioppo and Petty (1982). According to Cacioppo and Petty (1982), the need for cognition, is the tendency of seeking effortful thinking processes and enjoying those processes in persons (cited in Gülgöz, Sadowski, 1995). The needs for cognition involve the qualifications about teaching profession. Since the detection of need for cognition levels of preschool prospective teachers in the first class will lead the way to the teaching studies in later periods, it is thought that, in research, identification of the need for cognition levels of first class preschool prospective teachers and their views on the need for cognition is important. The aim of the research is identification of the need for cognition levels of preschool prospective teachers and views directed to the need for cognition. In this framework, answers were sought for these questions in research: 1. What are the levels of need for cognition of preschool prospective teachers? 2. What are the views of preschool prospective teachers on the need for cognition? In research, to decide the levels of need for cognition of prospective teachers, quantitative, and to decide the views for the need for cognition, qualitative research techniques have been facilitated. 116 first class prospective teachers, who study at Pamukkale University, in Faculty of Education, Preschool Education Department, have formed the research group. Need for Cognition (Cacioppo, Petty & Kao, 1984 adapted to Turkish by Gülgöz & Sadowski, 1995) Measure has been applied to those students. For 51 students, who selected among 116 prospective teachers, a five open ended questionnaire form has been generated by the researcher to identify their views on the need for cognition. Questions in this form have been prepared by considering the definitions that explains the term "need for cognition". In this research, to identify the levels of the need for cognition of students in the analysis of data, descriptive statistical values of collected data have been determined. In the evaluation of data about prospective teachers' views, content analysis has been done. The frequency values of coded data have been determined. When looked at the research findings, these results have been achieved: When examined the levels of need for cognition, it is seen that the levels of need for cognition of preschool prospective teachers are lower than the values collected in the study of Gülgöz and Sadowski (1995) adapted to Turkish. In another step of the research, views of prospective teachers about the need for cognition have been collected. Here, firstly the views of prospective teachers about vital importance of thinking have been asked. The feature of thinking on maintaining human life and on views about problem solving and recognizing the life, respectively, have composed the highest frequencies. Here, it can be said that the prospective teachers' awareness about vital importance of thinking is high. In the perceptions of prospective teachers about problem situations and the views about evaluations, it was observed that the views of analyzing the complicated situation or problem and dealing with these problems appropriately and making use of these experiences had high frequencies respectively. When looked at the answers about the ways that prospective teachers use in decision making and problem solving, the views, understanding the problem and finding the source of problem, respectively have been seen as the most stated views. When examined the answers of prospective teachers, it is seen that the statements are generally about comprehending and understanding the problem. It has been seen that the frequencies based on the views about how to approach to solve the problem and what will be done are very low. When looked at the views of prospective teachers about what they do in the process of research and homework preparation, it is seen that the most frequently stated view is the view of searching different sources. After this view, it has been seen that the views of dealing with the subject with its all sides by scanning in details and digesting the subject in its own and being aware of are the most stated views with close frequencies to each other. When examined the answers of prospective teachers about how they behave when they encountered with different views apart from theirs, it is seen that the view respecting different views, being open to different views has the highest frequency. After this view, the views of accepting if the view has the possibility of correctness and suitable, listening to different views, and objecting to in the case that different views do not fit to themselves or if those views have wrong sides are, respectively, the most stated views. Considering the findings obtained; it can be said that the need for cognition levels of prospective teachers gained from the need for cognition measure being low shows parallelism with the insufficient explanations in the views about the ways they use to solve the problem and make decision, to do research and prepare homework, and to evaluate different ideas. However, when looked at the answers about the vital importance of thinking and complex problem situations, it has been seen that the prospective teachers stated positive views. Those results make us to think that the prospective teachers have the awareness about the importance of thinking, and although, their perceptions and evaluations about complex and problematic situations are positive, they show weaknesses about applying those to real life. It is important developing the need for cognition for prospective teachers. In the teacher education programs, prospective teachers should be led into the activities based on thinking and should be encouraged that they can do those activities. For this reason, in the teacher education program, it is considered as an important necessity to be given opportunities that enables thinking in teaching environments.