@article{article_106241, title={Examining The Beliefs Of Prospective Elementary And Science Teachers Regarding Reformed Science Teaching And Learning}, journal={The International Journal of Research in Teacher Education}, volume={4}, pages={1–9}, year={2013}, author={Karaman, ayhan and Karaman, Pınar}, abstract={Turkey following the footsteps of western education system is nowadays struggling to implement constructivist paradigm in its schools. The success of the integration of constructivist elements into the schools is heavily contingent upon the support of teachers. This necessitates that the ideas advocated in constructivist reform movements should be promoted adequately in the preparation of teacher candidates. Therefore, investigating the beliefs of prospective teachers regarding reformed science teaching and learning becomes crucially important for an accurate portrayal of the current structure of the teacher profiles. This study focuses on the beliefs of prospective elementary and science teachers regarding reformed science teaching and learning. An adapted version of the BARSTL (Beliefs about Reformed Science Teaching and Learning) questionnaire developed originally by Sampson, Grooms and Enderle (2013) was delivered to a total of 393 first-year elementary and science teachers. The reformed science teaching and learning beliefs of prospective teachers with respect to their majors, genders and type of high school from which they graduated was investigated using independent samples t-test statistics and one-way ANOVA statistics. The results of the study indicate that many prospective teachers regardless of their majors adopt traditional perspectives in science teaching and learning. Particularly, prospective elementary and science teachers scored lower on “how people learn about science” and “the nature of the science curriculum” sub-dimensions of the BARSTL questionnaire, which implies that traditional beliefs are more dominant in these two specific sub-dimensions. The mean scores of elementary and science prospective teachers differ statistically significantly in two sub-dimensions of the BARSTL questionnaire (“characteristics of teachers and the learning environment” and “the nature of the science curriculum”). With respect to gender, the mean scores of male teacher candidates are significantly higher than their female peers in two sub-dimensions of the questionnaire (“how people learn about science” and “lesson design and implementation”). No statistically significant difference is present between the mean scores of prospective teachers graduated from different types of high schools. The results obtained from the study indicate the limited acceptance of constructivist reform ideas by pre-service elementary and science teachers. Constructivist Reform The history of Western thought might be divided in three consecutive time periods: pre-modern, modern and post-modern (Doll, 1993). Pre-modern worldview that reached its highest level with the exceptional works of influential ancient Greek philosophers like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle was replaced by modernity in sixteenth century with the major contributions of prominent natural philosophers; Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes and Newton just to name a few. The modernity’s success, which was crowned with the emergence of industrial revolution, permeated to every aspect of life until its death announcement was made by Jürgen Habermas in late twentieth century. The postmodern era in which we currently live makes itself feel in different fields in different ways. Needless to say, the education field is no exception. Although it is quite difficult to give a precise account of the emerging new paradigm accompanying postmodernism, its effects are being felt in education domain with the emergence of contemporary education reform movements (Doll, 1993). Transitioning from an industrial society to a knowledge driven economy necessitated the renewal of science education standards in 1980s. Fast development of science and technology led to changing relationship between the workforce and production. Preparing the qualified workforce in harmony with the knowledge driven economy triggered a change in the education of students in science. In parallel to the emerging needs of the knowledge driven economy, the influence of the postmodernism manifested itself on science education with constructivism (Schulz, 2007; Sherman, 2000). In other words, the new science education standards in the US rise on the philosophical foundations of constructivism (National Research Council, 1996). Likewise, Turkey following the footsteps of Western education system prepared recently new standards for science education in all levels of schooling, namely elementary, middle and high school (Eğitimi Araştırma ve Geliştirme Dairesi Başkanlığı, 2007; Talim ve Terbiye Kurulu Başkanlığı, 2006). Constructivism as an epistemology considers knowledge as a constructed entity by individuals rather than an external agent free from its knower. As such, learning takes place by constructing the meaning from experiences as opposed to acquiring the knowledge directly from the teacher. Without any doubt, constructivist reform in the education system is fruitful yet a difficult}, number={3}, publisher={Eğitim Araştırmaları Birliği Derneği}