Does intention matter? Assessing the science teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers as compared to the general student population

Teachers ’ sense of efficacy, that is, the extent to which they believe that their efforts affect student learning, is a significant indicator of effective teachers. Efficacy has two dimensions: self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. The research tests the hypotheses that there is no difference in the science teaching efficacy of science majors who planned to teach and science majors who did not and, non-science majors who planned to teach and non-majors who did not. The data were also analyzed to compare the science teaching efficacy of science majors and non-science majors in the general student population and of males and females. Among all pre-service teachers, science majors had a significantly higher Personal Science Teaching Efficacy (PSTE) but their Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE) was not significantly different from their non-science counterparts. In a comparison of science majors the pre-service teachers had a lower STOE than their peers who did not intend to teach. Pre-service non-science majors did not have a significantly different PSTE or STOE from the general population, demonstrating that completing a teaching minor and intending to be become elementary teachers did not positively impact their science teaching efficacy. Correspondence concerning this manuscript should be addressed to Jan