Pre-Service Elementary Science Teachers’ Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs and Their Sources

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to measure science teaching self-efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers, and to determine whether there is a difference between the grades of pre-service science teachers in terms of self-efficacy in science teaching as well as sources of their self-efficacy beliefs. The sample of the research included 492 pre-service elementary science teachers. Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs (STEBI-B) and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Results showed that self-efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers are generally high for both subscales that are Personal Science Teaching Efficacy (PSTE) (M = 51.42, SD = 6.88) and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE) (M = 36.69, SD = 5.35). Moreover, Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) showed that pre-service teachers in the final year had significantly higher self-efficacy beliefs.