TEACHING EVOLUTION SELF-EFFICACY SCALE: THE DEVELOPMENT, VALIDATION AND RELIABILITY STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring prospective biology teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about teaching evolution. The research was conducted on a study group consisted of 212 prospective biology teachers. Content validity was established through review of related literature and expert opinions. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis are performed in order to establish the scale's construct validity. The scale's reliability coefficient and item-total correlations are calculated. Cronbach alpha coefficient of the scale is 0,87. Internal consistency coefficients for the sub-scales varied between 0,81 and 0,83 and found to be within admissible limits. In light of these results, it could be argued that the scale is reliable and valid instrument and can be used in identifiying prospective biology teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about teaching evolution. 

Keywords

• Teaching evolution,self-efficacy beliefs,reliability,validity

References

1. Kline, R.B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York: The Guilford Press. Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A quantitative approach to content validity1. Personnel Psychology, 28(4), 563-575. Lin, T. J., & Tsai, C. C. (2013). A multi-dimensional instrument for evaluating Taiwanese high school students’science learning self-efficacy in relation to their approaches to learning science. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 11(6), 1275-1301. NRC (National Research Council).(1998). Teaching about evolution and the nature of science. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Senemoğlu, N. (2012). Gelişim öğrenme ve öğretim kuramdan uygulamaya (21. Baskı). Ankara: Pegem Akademi. Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, A. W. (2001). Teacher efficacy: capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783-805.