A Study of Undergraduate Science Education Major Students' Attitudes towards Science and Science Teaching, and Relations with Several Socio-Demographic Factors at Four-Year Teachers Colleges in Turkey

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to reveal Turkish pre-service science teachers' attitudes toward science and science teaching by using a Turkish translation of the latest version of Science Teaching Attitudes Scale (STAS-II) by Moore and Foy (1997). The sample size of the study was 612 freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior science education major students of four different teachers colleges located in different parts of Turkey. The reliability of the Turkish translation of the STAS-II was found to be 0.80 with the test-retest method. There is a significant mean difference between class levels (p=0.027). Teachers colleges and gender of students do not show significantly mean differences based on the STAS-II scores. On the other hand, the subjects of families having higher level incomes had statistically significant higher mean on attitudes toward science and science teaching than other subjects. In the result, the uniqueness of a nationwide science curriculum and the unification of the educational system seem to develop substantially similar attitudes among pre-service science teachers in Turkey. (Author)