Social Studies Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions about the Concept of Innovation

In the century we live, it is necessary to keep up with the era and to show improvement. Keeping up with this change can only be achieved with innovative thinking. Teachers have the task of raising innovative thinking individuals. For this reason, it is aimed to determine the opinions of prospective teachers on the concept of innovation. Qualitative research method has been adopted in this study. The phenomenologic design was used in the study. A semi-structured interview form was applied to 115 social studies teacher candidates in a university education faculty in the fall semester of 2018-2019 academic year. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data. According to the statements of social studies teacher candidates, innovative thought supports development and progression individually and socially. For this reason, programs that support innovative and creative thinking should be applied from traditional and old thought patterns