The Effect of Technology Integration in Education on Prospective Teachers' Critical and Creative Thinking, Multidimensional 21st Century Skills and Academic Achievements

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to examine the critical and creative thinking, multidimensional 21st century skills and the change in academic achievements as a result of technology integration of prospective teachers who have science education in pedagogy fields. Research was carried out in Turkey's western Black Sea region in a state university. 144 prospective teachers, who were educated in the faculty of education and who were in science, classroom and pre-school education departments, participated in the research. The research was carried out in 3 stages. In the first stage, technology integration is not provided. In the second stage, basic and medium level technology integration is provided. In the third stage, advanced technology integration is provided. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used together in the research. Academic success test, critical and creative thinking test developed by the researcher as a means of quantitative data collection, and three different scales with validity and reliability were used previously. In addition, project, exam, homework, presentation and group work scores are included in the process. Semi-structured interview, observation and field notes, document review, were used as qualitative data collection tools. The quantitative data obtained were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. While doing these operations, SPSS 23.0 and LISREL 9.2 package programs were used. Qualitative data were subjected to descriptive analysis and content analysis. The results of the research show that gradual integration of technology into the education process provides a positive change in prospective teachers' critical and creative thinking, multi-dimensional 21st century skills and academic achievements.