EFFECTS OF FIELD EXPERIENCE AND TEACHING PRACTICE ON PROSPECTIVE SCIENCE TEACHERS' SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS

The main purposes of this study were to investigate if there were any effects of field experience and teaching practice on prospective science teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and identify possible factors that may affect their self-efficacy beliefs. Participants were forty students consecutively enrolled in field experience and teaching practice at the final year of science teacher education program. Data were collected from two main sources: the Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument-Pre-service ([STEBI-B], Belicher, 2004; Tekkaya, Cakiroglu, & Ozkan, 2004) and semi-structured interviews. The instrument was administered at three different times during the field experience and teaching practice. Thirteen of the participants were interviewed at the three times the instruments were collected. Findings indicated that there were no significant differences on prospective science teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs during field experience and teaching practice. Participants felt that they had lack of content knowledge and teaching practice. This study has significant implications for science teacher educators