FEN OKURYAZARLIĞI ÜZERİNE EPİSTEMOLOJİK İNANÇLAR VE ÖZYETERLİK ETKİSİNİ İNCELEYEN BİR MODEL

A MODEL THAT EXAMINES EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS AND SELF-EFFICACY ON SCIENCE LITERACY

Abstract

The aim of the research is to investigate to what extent the science literacy of science teacher candidates is explained by their epistemological beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs of science teaching through a model. A model was created and tested to determine the direct and indirect effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables of the research. The causal-comparative design was used in the research, and the study group of the research is composed of 596 university students, 415 of which are female and 181 of which are male. The basic science and technology literacy scale developed by Laugksch and Spargo (1996) and adapted into Turkish language by Yetişir (2007); the science teaching self-efficacy belief scale developed by Riggs and Enochs (1990) and adapted into Turkish language by Özkan, Tekkaya and Çakıroğlu (2002); and the Epistemological beliefs inventory developed by Schommer (1990) and adapted into Turkish language by Deryakulu and Büyüköztürk (2002) were used in the research as data collecting tools. The data obtained from the research were analyzed with SPSS 21 and AMOS software packages. The path analysis was performed for testing the model in the research.It was consequently determined in the research that scientific literacy of science teacher candidates was explained by their epistemological beliefs directly, their science teaching self-efficacy beliefs indirectly. In the study, a conceptual model was suggested for the relationship between the variables (science literacy of science teacher candidates, their epistemological beliefs and their selfefficacy beliefs in science teaching). It was observed that the variable of the belief that there is only one correct was correlation inefficient with independent and the other variables, and this variable wasn’t taken into the model.The main aim of science teaching is to grow scientific literate individuals. Growing individuals who can decide when faced with a problem on science, who can make suggestions on scientific discussions, know the basic concepts on science and can use these concepts for the problems in their lives, is rather important for developing societies (Çepni, Bacanak and Küçük, 2003). Although scientists make a lot of definitions about science literacy, a common definition can’t be developed. Yet, in general terms, a common and basic concept can be mentioned for the aims in science teaching in the schools (Deboer, 2000; Robert, 1983; as cited in Laugksch, 2000). The other variable beside science literacy that effects the scientific development of individuals is epistemological beliefs. These beliefs are about the nature of knowledge and learning but not a strict philosophical perception (Schommer, 1998). An extended definition of epistemological belief is the subjective beliefs about what knowledge is and how knowing and learning ocur. There is a consistent relation between epistemological beliefs and learning and studying strategies of the students. The students who have improved beliefs in learning process use more qualified learning strategies and can be more successful in terms of academic than the students who have unimproved epistemological beliefs (Deryakulu, 2004). The characteristics that science teachers must have are science literacy and developed epistemological and self-efficacy beliefs. Selfefficacy is one of the concepts that came to forefront in Bandura’s social learning theory. Bandura firstly mentioned about this concept in his work "Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change" in 1977 (Bıkmaz, 2004; Pajares, 2002). Self-efficacy is an important qualification for forming behaviours and individual’s judgement about himself for making necessary organisations and sustaining successfully (Bandura, 1997). The self-efficacy in science education can be defined as the judgment about the students’ own skills for participation, motivation and as a result the success of them and effective and fertile science teaching of teachers (Küçükyılmaz and Duban, 2006). So, the low or high selfefficacy of the teachers may affect the applications of the teachers in science education (Schriver and Czerniak, 1999). In the study, the self-efficacy belief in science education is very important in terms of science teacher candidates. The teacher candidates with high self-efficacy beliefs will be more determined, knowing what he wants and what he must do. In this study, the science literacy of the teacher candidates were explained in terms of the variables, epistemological belief and self-efficacy belief for science teaching, and the reasons and results were discussed comparatively CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK It can be said that, as well as teachers’ personal characteristics, their educational process at faculty of education has a great role for their scientific literacy. That is why many research has been done about the level of scientific literacy on science teacher candidates. It can be thought that scientific literacy of science teacher candidates is influenced by epistemological beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs. Yet, there is no research in literature. Searching how science candidate teacher’s scientific literacy is predicted by their epistemological beliefs and self efficacy beliefs on science teaching has a crucial role on teacher’s education, correcting deficiencies in science teaching field and enlighting for further studies. METHOD In this study, casual-comparative research method, one of the scanning models, was used. Casual-comparative researches are for determining the reasons of a natural situation or event and the variables affecting these reasons or the results of an effect This method was used for explaining the science literacy of teacher candidates depending on the epistemological belief and the variables of self-efficacy belief for science teaching. Data Collection Tools The Scale of Basic Science and Technology Literacy: This scale used in the study was developed by Laugksch and

Özet

Araştırmada fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının fen okuryazarlıklarının, epistemolojik inançları ve fen bilgisi öğretimi öz yeterlik inançlarıyla ne düzeyde açıklandığını bir model aracılığıyla incelemek amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın bağımlı değişkeni üzerindeki bağımsız değişkenlerin doğrudan ve dolaylı etkilerini belirleyecek bir model oluşturulmuş ve test edilmiştir. Araştırmada nedensel karşılaştırmalı desen kullanılmıştır, araştırmanın çalışma grubunu farklı üniversitelerden 415 bayan ve 181 erkek olmak üzere 596 üniversite öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak Laugksch ve Spargo (1996), tarafından geliştirilen ve Yetişir (2007), tarafından Türkçe'ye uyarlanan temel fen ve teknoloji okuryazarlık ölçeği, Riggs ve Enochs (1990), tarafından geliştirilen ve Özkan, Tekkayave Çakıroğlu (2002) tarafından Türkçe'ye uyarlanan fen bilgisi öğretimi öz yeterlik inancı ölçeği ve Schommer (1990), tarafından geliştirilen ve Deryakulu ve Büyüköztürk (2002) tarafından Türkçe'ye uyarlanan Epistemolojik inanç ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen veriler SPSS 21 ve AMOS programlarıyla analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmada model testi için path analizi yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının fen okuryazarlıklarının, epistemolojik inançları bakımından doğrudan, fen öğretimi öz yeterlik inançları bakımından ise dolaylı olarak açıklandığı belirlenmiştir. Çalışmada değişkenler (fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının fen okur yazarlığı, epistemolojik inançları ve fen öğretimi alanındaki öz yeterlik inançları) arasındaki ilişki için kavramsal bir model önerilmiştir. Tek bir doğru olduğuna dair inanç değişkeninin bağımsız ve diğer değişkenlerle etkileşimsiz olduğu görülmüş ve bu değişken modele alınmamıştır