Prospective Science and Primary School Teachers' Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Scientific Literacy

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the self-efficacy beliefs of prospective science and primary school teachers in scientific literacy and to bring out whether it changes depending on some varieties such as department, gender and grade level. The study is applied on 346 students who are educated in a state university's elementary education department. The study group is consisted of the prospective students attending in the first and fourth grades of the science teaching and primary school teaching departments. In this study, "Self-Efficacy Scale in Scientific Literacy" developed by the researchers is used. The reliability coefficient is found as Cronbach alpha= 0,95. This scale consists of 33 items and is made up of in fivefold form of likert. The findings of this study can be summarized as in the below: Prospective science and primary school teachers' average point of self-efficacy beliefs in scientific literacy is 113,36; namely, it is in the quite enough level. Prospective science and primary school teachers' self-efficacy beliefs in scientific literacy are found meaningfully different according to their department, gender and grade levels. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.