Preservice Science Teachers’ Beliefs and Perceptions of Teaching of Science, and the Learning Environments Created in Teacher Education Programs

Author(s):

Ebru Ozturk-Akar(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 12 D, Models, Learning Environments, Load and Strain

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-13

09:00-10:30

Room:

A-105

Chair:

Contribution

Curriculum change was supported to correct the deficiencies of the Turkish educational system in the first half of the 2000s. A constructivist philosophy is adapted and Elementary Science curriculum was developed based on the constructivist conceptions with an international focus. Yet, asynchronous changes of curriculum and teacher education programmes caused problems in translation of curriculum intentions into classroom processes. Following the curriculum change, Faculties of Education made the statement that they could not incorporate the changes into their pre-service teacher education courses due to lack of information from the Ministry of National Education. Qualifications of new graduates of Science Teacher Education Programs are doubted that they do not know well-enough about the constructivist-inspired pedagogies and they have not been trained in a constructivist way of teaching (Akşit, 2007).

Elementary Science curriculum has been implemented since 2004. It is expected that teacher education programs already incorporated the changes in the courses. Preservice elementary science teachers (PESTs) are getting familiar with the promoted teaching approaches and are prepared to utilize constructivist ways of teaching in their classrooms. However, it is known that not only the science classes, laboratory works or activities in the teacher education programs (Tsai, 2002) but also the PESTs’ preexisting beliefs that they gained through their previous education contributes to their specific beliefs about science teaching and learning, and their future instructional practices (Olson & Appleton, 2006). In this regard, this study aims to explore the PESTs’ beliefs related to constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching and learning of science. It is also intended to explore the PESTs‘ perceptions of the degree to which their science teacher education programs reflected the characteristics of a constructivist learning environment. The associations between PESTs’ beliefs related to teaching and learning of science and their perceptions of the learning environment created in the teacher education programs are also examined. The research questions guiding the study are:

1) What are the PESTs’ beliefs of teaching and learning of science?

2) What are the PESTs’ perceptions of the degree to which their science teacher education programs reflected the characteristics of a constructivist learning environment?

3) Is there any association between PESTs’ beliefs of teaching and learning of science and their perceptions of the learning environment created in the teacher education programs?

Hypotheses are:

H1: PESTs’ beliefs of science teaching and learning become more constructivist with the increasing number of science methods and science content courses they take.

H2: If PESTs believe that they are studying in a constructivist learning environment, they have a more constructivist approach to teaching and learning of science.

Method

Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was used to assess the degree to which PESTs value the components of constructivist teaching (Taylor et al., 1995) in their teacher education program. The CLES consisted of 30 items with a five-point Likert-type response scale. In order to assess PESTs’ beliefs related to constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching and learning Teacher Beliefs Survey (TBS) was used. The TBS consisted of 48 items with a 6-point rating scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree) (Woolley, Benjamiin & Williams Woolley, 2004). The translation-back-translation of the original CLES and TBS, and meaning check were done by a team of four. Through convenience sampling, 407 PESTs in class groups in a state university are invited to participate in the study. Surveys are administered in the Spring semester of 2012-2013. Two separate Confirmatory Factor Analyses are conducted by using LISREL 8.30 to check if the factorial structures of CLES and TBS would be confirmed in the present sample. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses are used to examine PESTs’ beliefs and perceptions of teaching and learning science, characteristics of the learning environment created in teacher education programs, and to check associations between these beliefs and perceptions.

Expected Outcomes

The argument in this study call attention of all the stakeholders involved in the change of Turkish elementary science curriculum. It is expected that making PESTs’ beliefs and perceptions explicit through findings of this study not only contributes to teacher development on a personal basis but also to more efficient Teacher Education Programs. PESTs can discuss and reflect on their beliefs and perceptions of teaching and learning of science. Teacher educators can evaluate the efficiency of the Teacher Education Programs in preparing PESTs for their careers. Both teacher educators and PESTs can identify the inconsistencies between their beliefs and practices. Curriculum developers gain an insight of how important is the role of teachers’ beliefs and perceptions in the translation of curriculum intentions to classroom practices. Considering the parallel changes of the science curriculum in European countries, findings of the study urge teacher educators to investigate the PESTs’ beliefs and perceptions of teaching and learning of science and their role as the teacher throughout their teacher education. Large-scale, cross-cultural and longitudinal studies might highlight the possible presence of commonalities, inadequacy and/or irrelevancy of explanations in different contexts.

References

Akşit, N. (2007). Educational reform in Turkey. International Journal of Educational Research, 27(2), 129-137. Olson, J & Appleton, K 2006, 'Considering curriculum for elementary science methods courses', in K Appleton (ed.), Elementary science teacher education: International perspectives on contemporary issues and practice, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 127 - 151. Tsai, C. (2002). Nested epistemologies: science teachers’ beliefs of teaching, learning and science.International Journal of Science Education, 24(8), 771–783. Taylor, P., Fraser, B. J., & Fisher, D. L. (1995). Monitoring constructivist classroom learning environments. Paper presented in National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), San Francisco, CA. Woolley, S.L.,Benjamin, W-J.J. & Williams Woolley, A. (2004). Construct validity of a self-report measure of teacher beliefs related to constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching and learning. Educational and Psychological Measurement. 64, 319-331.

Author Information

Ebru Ozturk-Akar (presenting / submitting)

AIBU

AİBU

Bolu

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