Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Anxiety about Teaching Science: What are the Triggers?

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The aim of this study was to investigate the degree and the nature of the relationship between pre-service elementary teachers’ anxiety about science teaching and their self-efficacy beliefs about science teaching, their perceptions of the nature of past experiences in science teaching, the number of science courses they took in college and their previous grades in these science courses. The data was collected from 82 pre-service elementary teachers enrolled in an M.Ed program. The collected data was analyzed by bivariate and multiple regression analysis to get an idea about the nature of correlations among the variables considered in this study. In order to compare science teaching anxiety of pre-service teachers who had no experience, positive experience and negative experience in science teaching ANOVA was generated. The results indicate that personal science teaching efficacy and number of science courses taken in college are the significant predictors of science teaching anxiety. Pearson correlations among the variables show that their perception of their experiences in science teaching, grade point average of science courses and perception of science background indirectly influence science teaching anxiety. However, the effect of these variables on science teaching anxiety was mediated by personal science teaching efficacy in the simultaneous multiple regression model.

Stream: Teacher Training and Professional Development

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

I am an Assistant Professor at the Science Education Programme at the Gazi University located in Turkey. I am interested in teacher education and the effects of metaconceptual processes on the changes in students' conceptions.

I am a graduate student at Gazi University located in Turkey. I am interested in the effect of metacognitive processes on the change in students' conceptions and teacher education.

I am a graduate student at Gazi University located in Turkey. I am interested in the effect of metacognitive processes on the change in students' conceptions and teacher education.