An Extended Examination of Preservice Elementary Teachers' Science Teaching Self‐Efficacy

The purpose of this study was to examine programmatic factors that positively impact changes in elementary preservice teachers' teaching self‐efficacy beliefs. Specifically, it examined the impact of science methods courses, student teaching, and science content courses on elementary preservice teachers' science teaching self‐efficacy. The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument Form B was administered, using a pre/post design, to undergraduate elementary education majors in specific education and science content courses. A total of 399 responses were collected, of which 172 had matching pre/post surveys suitable for analysis. Students in the science content courses and student teaching seminar showed no significant change in either the Personal Science Teaching Efficacy (PSTE) or the Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy scales during the time they were enrolled in the classes. Significant gains in PSTE were found for students enrolled in the science methods course. The specific design of the education program and methods course may be responsible for these changes.     

Linking Preservice Teachers' Mathematics Self‐Efficacy and Mathematics Teaching Efficacy to Their Mathematical Performance

This study examined preservice teachers' mathematics self‐efficacy and mathematics teaching efficacy and compared them to their mathematical performance. Participants included 89 early childhood preservice teachers at a Midwestern university. Instruments included the Mathematics Self‐Efficacy Scale (MSES), Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI), and the Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS) Basic Skills Test. The results indicate that preservice teachers' mathematics self‐efficacy is positively correlated to their personal mathematics teaching efficacy. In addition, their mathematical performance is related to their mathematics self‐efficacy and mathematics teaching efficacy. In regard to affecting student outcomes, only those preservice teachers who are very confident in their ability to teach believe they can have an effect on their students. Implications on teacher education programs are discussed.     

Revisiting the STEBI‐B: Measuring Self‐Efficacy in Preservice Elementary Teachers

The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument‐Preservice (STEBI‐B) has been used in many studies to measure science teaching self‐efficacy and outcome expectancy in preservice elementary teachers. Since its development in 1990, there have been no studies that have re‐examined its internal validity and reliability. The purpose of this study was to do so. Two hundred ninety preservice elementary teachers participated in this study. The STEBI‐B was administered at the beginning of science methods courses. A factor analysis established that the two subscales, Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief (PSTE) and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE), on the STEBI‐B were homogeneous, and loadings were comparable to those reported by Enochs and Riggs (1990) . Two items on the STOE were found to exhibit cross‐loading on the factor analysis, as well as low item‐total correlations. These two items were modified and the revised instrument administered to 86 new participants. Both revised items loaded more clearly on the STOE subscale, and item‐total correlations were stronger. Comparison of means analyses showed that gender, number of science courses taken, and school science experiences had significant associations with PSTE. The STEBI‐B continues to be employed in hundreds of studies to measure science teaching self‐efficacy. It is important to continue to monitor its reliability and validity, as well as check on associations with various background variables. The modified STEBI‐B is included in an appendix with this article.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers' Mathematics Content Knowledge and Teacher Efficacy

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mathematics content knowledge and teacher efficacy during an elementary mathematics methods course. A positive moderate relationship between content knowledge and personal teaching efficacy was found, and this relationship was stable during the course. No relationship was found between content knowledge and outcome expectancy. Written artifacts were used to understand and elaborate on these findings. Those data suggest that prior learning experiences may help explain this relationship. Additionally, they suggest that preservice teachers with different levels of content knowledge may attend to different sources of information when making efficacy judgments about teaching.     

Changes in Preservice Elementary Teachers' Sense of Efficacy in Teaching Science

This paper reports progress to date on a longitudinal study of changes in preservice teachers' sense of efficacy in teaching science. The study involved procedures designed to validate, in an Australian context, the Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (STEBI-B) comprised of two scales: Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Scale (STE) and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy Scale (STO). Concomitantly, the instrument was used to monitor changes in teachers' sense of science teaching efficacy employing a pretest and repeated posttest, one group research design. The subjects were students enrolled in a three-year Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) program. Correlations between pretest scores on STEBI-B and other measures of personal beliefs and behaviors, namely academic self concept and academic locus of control, supported the validity of STEBI-B. The results indicate that, over three semesters of the program, there was significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores on the STE scale. Possible explanations of the results obtained are discussed and evaluated and a justification for further long term research into teachers' sense of efficacy in teaching science is provided. Implications of the results for the teaching of elementary school science are discussed.     

Teaching Science as Science Is Practiced: Opportunities and Limits for Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers' Self‐Efficacy for Science and Science Teaching

Science teaching in elementary schools, or the lack thereof, continues to be an area of concern and criticism. Preservice elementary teachers' lack of confidence in teaching science is a major part of this problem. In this mixed‐methods study, we report the impacts of an inquiry‐based science course on preservice elementary teachers' self‐efficacy for science and science teaching, understanding of science, and willingness to teach it in their future careers. Our findings suggest that for some students, the inquiry‐based science course positively influenced their self‐efficacy for science and science teaching. Gains were made in a majority of students' conceptual understanding of science, understanding of the science process and scientific research, and confidence with science and science teaching. The subjects did not experience the course uniformly, however. Rather, there appeared to be two distinct groups, one on a trajectory of improving their outlook on science teaching and one worsening. The results presented here therefore provoke some interesting questions regarding preservice elementary teachers' preparation for science teaching.     

Science as a Learner and as a Teacher: Measuring Science Self‐Efficacy of Elementary Preservice Teachers

Academic science achievement of U.S. students has raised concerns regarding our ability as a nation to compete in a global economy. Additionally, research has shown that many elementary teachers have weak science content backgrounds and had poor/negative experiences as students of science, resulting in a lack of confidence regarding teaching science. However, efforts to increase science self‐efficacy (SE) in preservice teachers can help to combat these issues. This study looked at a sample of preservice elementary teachers engaged in a semester‐long science content course, using Bandura's concept of SE as a conceptual framework. Our quantitative data showed significant increases in science SE on both subscales (personal efficacy and outcome expectancy). Our qualitative data showed that students communicated an increased sense of confidence with regard to the discipline of science. In addition, students reported learning science pedagogy through the instructor's modeling. Combining our findings resulted in several meta‐inferences, one of which showed students growing as both confident learners of science and teachers of science simultaneously. We created a construct new to the literature to describe this phenomenon: “teacher‐learner,” for students are both learning science and learning to teach science simultaneously through the content course experience, resulting in increased science SE.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers' Use of Mathematics in a Project‐Based Science Approach

The use of a project‐based science (PBS) approach to teaching encourages students to integrate mathematics and science in meaningful ways as they create projects. As a beginning study of how students use mathematics in such an approach, an analysis of 23 projects developed by preservice elementary teachers enrolled in an elementary science course was conducted. Findings showed that students made a number of different types of mathematical errors and underutilized data representation and summary forms. Implications included the importance of developing methods for supporting the use of mathematical tools in utilizing a project‐based approach and considering ways that such tools mediate scientific thinking.     

Community‐Based Service‐Learning as a Source of Personal Self‐Efficacy: Preparing Preservice Elementary Teachers to Teach Science for Diversity

Bandura (1997) contends that when compared to other sources of efficacy, mastery experiences, when presented appropriately, have the most powerful influence on self‐efficacy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of community‐based service learning (CBSL) experiences on preservice elementary teachers' personal self‐efficacy beliefs about equitable science teaching and learning. Data were collected using pretests‐posttests and post‐questionnaires with the study sample. Findings from this study support Bandura's assertion. CBSL experiences were an important source of personal self‐efficacy and significantly influenced preservice elementary teachers' personal self‐efficacy beliefs about equitable science teaching and learning.     

Examining Elementary Teachers’ Engineering Self‐Efficacy and Engineering Teacher Efficacy

Research indicates that teacher efficacy influences student achievement and is situation specific. With the Next Generation Science Standards calling for the incorporation of engineering practices into K–12 classrooms, it is important to identify teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy. A study of K–5 teachers’ engineering self‐efficacy and engineering teaching efficacy revealed that that they have low engineering self‐efficacy and low teacher efficacy related to engineering pedagogical content knowledge. Additionally, significant differences existed in self‐efficacy levels based on gender, ethnicity, Title I school status, and grade level taught.     

Science Self‐Efficacy of Preservice Teachers in Face‐to‐Face versus Blended Environments

Using a quasi‐experimental mixed methods concurrent design, this study measured the science self‐efficacy of pre‐service elementary teachers before and after a survey of science content course. Further, this course was delivered in two different formats: face‐to‐face and hybrid (approximately 50% online), and compared pre‐and post‐science self‐efficacy of students in the two different course formats. Our quantitative results showed increases in personal efficacy, but not outcome expectancy for both formats, and no significant differences between the increases for either format. Our qualitative data showed that participants attributed their increased levels of personal efficacy to the hands‐on components of the course, as well as perceived teacher attitudes toward science, both of which would be challenging to replicate in a purely online format, as opposed to the hybrid format included in this study.     

Mathematics Anxiety and Preservice Elementary Teachers' Confidence to Teach Mathematics and Science

Sixty‐five preservice elementary teachers' math anxiety levels and confidence levels to teach elementary mathematics and science were measured. The confidence scores of subjects in different math anxiety groups were compared and the relationships between their math anxiety levels and confidence levels to teach mathematics and science were investigated. The results suggest that low math anxious preservice teachers are more confident to teach elementary mathematics and science than are their peers having higher levels of math anxiety. Negative correlations were found between preservice teachers' math anxiety and their confidence scores to teach elementary mathematics (r = ?.638) and between preservice teachers' math anxiety and their confidence scores to teach elementary science (r = ‐.417). Also, personal math and science teaching self‐efficacy scores of participants were found to be correlated at .01 level (r =.549).     

Preservice Elementary Teachers' Conceptions of What Causes Night and Day

Two different procedures were utilized to study 50 preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of what causes night and day on earth. The numbers of responses representing alternative conceptions for the models with written and verbal explanation procedures were 27 and 14, respectively. The alternative conception most frequently expressed for both procedures was that night and day are caused by the earth revolving around the sun. The frequency with which alternative conceptions were expressed by future teachers is a problem which should be addressed with instruction using models.     

The DESTIN: Preservice Teachers' Drawings of the Ideal Elementary Science Teacher

The aim of this study is to report findings from the Drawing‐Elementary‐Science‐Teacher‐Ideal‐Not, or the DESTIN procedure. The study utilizes a simple drawing procedure accompanied by a narrative and discussion for understanding preservice teachers' images of science, science teaching, and the science teacher. Ninety drawings from two sections of an elementary science methods course were analyzed. Looking at the pre‐drawings from the beginning of the semester and post‐drawings done at the end of the semester, the findings relate the value of using drawings in teacher education and the usefulness of this procedure to promote discussions about science teaching, the construction of new images and practices for teaching elementary science, and teacher identity. The DESTIN procedure has potential as a productive activity for teacher education and long‐term professional development by making more explicit teachers' views of science teaching and learning and their past experiences as science learners.     

Metaphors Reveal Preservice Elementary Teachers' Views of Mathematics and Science Teaching

Typically, experiences shape one's attitudes toward the “thing” that is being experienced, whether it is a person, pet, movie, etc. Classroom experiences also shape one's attitudes toward a subject, teacher, learning, and so forth. Studies have shown that attitudes become more negative as students move from elementary to secondary schools. Elementary preservice teachers have had many classroom experiences by the time they reach their methods courses. These varied experiences have shaped their attitudes about the learning and teaching of mathematics and science.     

A Mixed‐Method Study: Assessing the BAR Model's Impact on Preservice Teachers' Efficacy Beliefs

This study took place at a mid‐sized, Midwestern university located in a mid‐sized town. The researchers developed the BAR model to teach mathematics methods both in the classroom and in the field. The preservice teachers took Enochs, Smith, and Huinker's Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI) on the first and last day of class. A total of 297 responses were collected from the pre‐ and posttests, with 280 matching responses, which were then used for data analysis. Mixed methods were used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The researchers sought to determine if the specific teaching methods from the BAR model led to positive changes in preservice teacher efficacy beliefs. They also explored if efficacy beliefs changed as a result of field experiences. Preservice teachers' efficacy scores changed positively on every item on the MTEBI. The researchers also determined that there was an increase in preservice teachers' outputs as a result of their field experiences.     

The Role of Reflection in Elementary Mathematics and Science Teachers' Training and Development: A Meta‐Synthesis

Meaningful and effective training and professional development programs for teachers are key to the improvement of teaching practices in our schools. In this paper, the authors offer a meta‐synthesis of the literature on the role of reflection for mathematics and science teachers within the context of professional development. The authors frame this review using Desimone's core components of professional development, a research‐based framework emphasizing components tied to positive outcomes (content focus, active learning, coherence, duration, and collective participation). A synthesis of literature in this area shows that few training and professional development programs include all five components of Desimone's core conceptual framework for effective professional development linked to positive outcomes. Further, the authors find in their review that increased contact hours included in a professional development program produce an increase in frequency, duration, and depth of reflective practice for teachers.