THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS' SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS ABOUT SCIENCE TEACHING AND LABORATORY WORKS

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to determine the relationship between the pre-service science teachers' perceptions of their self-efficacies in science teaching and laboratory works. The sampling of the study consists of 70 pre-service science teachers grade 4 that have studied in Science Teacher Education Department at Muğla University. Survey method was used in the present study. The pre-service teachers' views of their proficiency in science laboratory works were determined through 18-item "Proficiency Determination Form" developed by Böyük, Demir and Erol (2010). The reliability of the scale was found to be.89. The pre-service teachers' perceptions of "Science Teaching Self-Efficacy (STSE)"were determined by means of 23-item "Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBIB)" developed by Riggs and Enochs (1990) and adopted to Turkish by Özkan, Tekkaya and Çakıroğlu (2002). According to the results of factor analysis, science teaching self-efficacy perception consists of two dimensions as "personal science teaching efficacy beliefs" and "science teaching outcome expectancy". Alpha reliability coefficient of each dimension was found to be 0.86 and 0.79, respectively. The results of the analyses revealed that there is a significant correlation between science teachers' perceptions' of their self-efficacies in science teaching and science laboratory competencies.