Investigation of the Effect of Teacher Training Programs on Reflective Thinking: ALACT Model.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the contribution of teacher training programs to the development of reflective thinking in pre-service teachers and the state of their using reflective thinking skills according to the ALACT model. Although the study carried out is quantitativelyfocused research, the methods of qualitative research were used to show how the participants used the examined variable. Therefore, the study was conducted using an exploratory mixed design. The study participants are 277 first-year and fourth-year pre-service teachers (211 females and 66 males) attending a state university. The participants of the qualitative dimension of the study are 20 fourthyear pre-service teachers selected through the convenience sampling method. As data collection tools, the "Reflective Thinking Tendency Scale (RTTS)", reflective thinking writings, and teacher training programs were used. According to the ANCOVA results, there is no significant difference between the pre-service teachers who are in the first year of their undergraduate education and the pre-service teachers who are in the last year of their undergraduate education. It was also concluded that the fourth-year pre-service teachers did not experience any reflective thinking process in the majority of their applications, and the ones who experienced such a process experienced it at the basic level (1st-3rd level). In light of the findings of the current study, it can be suggested that reflective thinking skills should be emphasized more clearly and that teacher training programs should be structured according to various reflective thinking models such as ALACT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]