Science as a Learner and as a Teacher: Measuring Science Self-Efficacy of Elementary Preservice Teachers.

Academic science achievement of U. S. students has raised concerns regarding our ability as a nation to compete in a global economy. Additionally, research has shown that many elementary teachers have weak science content backgrounds and had poor/negative experiences as students of science, resulting in a lack of confidence regarding teaching science. However, efforts to increase science self-efficacy ( SE) in preservice teachers can help to combat these issues. This study looked at a sample of preservice elementary teachers engaged in a semester-long science content course, using Bandura's concept of SE as a conceptual framework. Our quantitative data showed significant increases in science SE on both subscales (personal efficacy and outcome expectancy). Our qualitative data showed that students communicated an increased sense of confidence with regard to the discipline of science. In addition, students reported learning science pedagogy through the instructor's modeling. Combining our findings resulted in several meta-inferences, one of which showed students growing as both confident learners of science and teachers of science simultaneously. We created a construct new to the literature to describe this phenomenon: 'teacher-learner,' for students are both learning science and learning to teach science simultaneously through the content course experience, resulting in increased science SE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]