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In Turkey, a new Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC) was put into practice, starting initially with the Grade 9 in the2008-2009 education-year. When compared with the previous ones, this curriculum emphasized the importance of students’ active involvement in learning, use of real-life contexts and development of new skills. Even though what is intended with the new curriculum reflects the global trends in science/physics education, its success (or failure thereof) depends a great deal on teachers since they are the main actors to put the curriculum into practice. Whether teachers can implement the curriculum as intended by the curriculum developers remains an important question. A teacher’s belief is an important factor, among others, that affects his/her implementation of the THSPC. In this regard, the aim of this study was to investigate physics teachers’ beliefs relatedto the teaching of physics according to the THSPC. Four physics teachers from different schools participated in this study. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and an open-ended questionnaire. According to our findings, physics teachers believed that teaching physics based on the THSPC helped studentsuse their skills, become more interested in physics lessons, relate physics to their daily life and understand physics better. However, teachers believed that factors such as students’ interest in physics, the university entrance exam, inadequate laboratory facilities, limited lesson hours per week, and lack of information and communication technologies affected the implementation of the THSPC. For more effective implementation of the THSPC, making some changes in the curriculum should be necessary.

Bu çalışmanın amacı, dört fizik öğretmenin Ortaöğretim Fizik Dersi Öğretim Programına ilişkin inançlarını ve bu inançların sınıf içi uygulamalara ne derecede yansıdığını araştırmaktı. Veriler; mülakatlar, sınıf gözlemleri ve açık uçlu anket ile toplanmıştır.Öğretmenlerin mülakat sorularına vermiş oldukları cevaplar, fiziği Ortaöğretim Fizik Dersi Öğretim Programına göre öğretmenin; öğrencilerin becerilerini kullanmalarına, fizik derslerine ilgili olmalarına, fiziği günlük yaşamla ilişkilendirmelerine ve kalıcı bilgiye sahip olmalarına yardımcı olduğuna inandıklarını göstermiştir. Ayrıca, öğretmenler günlük yaşantıdan örnekler vererek ve tartışma ortamı oluşturarak fiziği Ortaöğretim Fizik Dersi Öğretim Programına göre öğretebileceklerine inanmaktadırlar. Sınıf gözlemlerinden elde edilen veriler, öğretmenlerin Ortaöğretim Fizik Dersi Öğretim Programına göre fizik dersini nasıl öğretecekleri hakkındaki inançlarının öğretimlerine yansıdığını göstermiştir.Öğretmenlerin açık uçlu ankete vermiş olduğu cevaplar, öğretmenlerin beceri kazanımlarının büyük bir kısmının öğrenciler tarafından kazanılması gerektiğine inandıklarını göstermiştir. Ancak öğretmenler öğrencilerin problem çözme ile bilişim ve iletişim becerilerinin çoğunu kazanamayacaklarını düşünmektedirler. Sınıf gözlemlerinden elde edilen veriler, öğretmenlerin öğrencilere bu becerileri kazandırmak için sınıf ortamında nadiren çaba harcadıklarını ya da hiç çaba harcamadıklarını göstermiştir.Mülakatlar ve açık uçlu anketten toplanan veriler, bazı unsurların Orta Öğretim Fizik Dersi Programına göre fizik öğretmeyi etkilediğini göstermiştir. Örneğin, öğretmenler öğrencilerin fizik derslerine olan ilgisinin ve öğretmenlerin günlük yaşantıdan bol örnek verilebilmesinin, Orta Öğretim Fizik Dersi Programına göre fizik öğretmeyi kolaylaştırdığına inanmaktadırlar. Ancak, öğretmenler üniversite sınavının, laboratuvar ortamı ve ders saati yetersizliğinin, öğrencilerin düşük ekonomik durumlarının ve bilişim ve iletişim teknolojilerinin eksikliğinin, Orta Öğretim Fizik Dersi Programına göre fizik öğretmeyi olumsuz yönde etkilediğine inanmaktadırlar. The purpose of this study was to investigate four in-service physics teachers? beliefs related to Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC) and to what extent these beliefs are reflected in their instructional practices. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and an open-ended questionnaire.Teachers? responses to interview questions showed that they believed that teaching physics according to the THSPC helped students use their skills, become interested in physics lessons, relate physics to their daily life and have a permanent knowledge. Besides, teachers believe that they can teach physics according to the THSPC generally by giving examples from daily life and creating a discussion environment. The data obtained from classroom observations showed that the beliefs of teachers about how to teach physics according to the THSPC were reflected in their instructional practices.Teachers? responses to open-ended questionnaire showed that teachers believed the necessity of attainment of majority of the skill objectives in the THSPC by students. However, they do not consider that students can attain many of the problem solving and information and communication skills. The data obtained from classroom observations showed that they seldom attempted to help students attain them or they never attempted.The data gathered from interviews and an open questionnaire showed that there were some factors that influence teachers? instructional practices according to the THSPC. For example, they believe that students? interest in physics lessons and teacher?s opportunity to give more examples about daily life made their teaching physics according to the THSPC easy. However, they believe that university entrance exam, inadequacy of laboratory environment and lesson hours, students? low economic status and lack of information and communication technologies affected their teaching physics according to the THSPC negatively. 238

Background: There are some theoretical evidences that explain the relationships between core beliefs (i.e., epistemological beliefs) and peripheral beliefs (self-efficacy in learning) in the literature. The close relationships of such type of beliefs with attitudes are also discussed by some researchers. Constructing a model that investigates these relationships by considering theoretical and empirical evidences can empower researchers to discuss these relationships more comprehensively. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among Turkish high school students' scientific epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy in learning physics and their attitudes toward physics. Sample: A total of 632 high school students participated in this study; however, 269 female and 229 male (a total of 498) high school students' data were used. Design and methods: Three distinct instruments that measure scientific epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy in learning physics and attitudes toward physics were combined into a unique questionnaire form and it was distributed to high school students. To explore the relationships among these variables, structural equation modeling was used. Results: The results showed that scientific epistemological belief dimensions uncovered by the nature of knowing (source and justification) significantly and positively related to both self-efficacy in learning physics and attitudes toward other important physics dimensions. Additionally, self-efficacy in learning physics significantly and positively predicted attitudes toward multiple physics dimensions (importance, comprehension and requirement). However, epistemological belief dimensions related to the nature of knowledge (certainty and development) did not have significant impact on self-efficacy in learning physics or attitudes toward physics. Conclusions: This study concludes that there are positive and significant relationships among Turkish high school students' scientific epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy in learning physics and their attitudes toward physics., Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, Turkey [EF.12.004], The funding of this study was supported by Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, Turkey, under grant contract number [EF.12.004].