An Analysis of Science Student Teachers’ Epistemological Beliefs and Metacognitive Perceptions about the Nature of Science

Abstract

This study has been carried out to identify the relationship between the epistemological beliefs of student teachers and their metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science. The participants of the study totaled 336 student teachers enrolled in the elementary science education division of the department of elementary education at the faculty of educational sciences in a state university in western Turkey. The data for the study was collected through the scale of epistemological beliefs, the scale of metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science, and the personal information form. The scale of epistemological beliefs was developed by Schommer and adapted to Turkish by Deryakulu and Büyüköztürk. The scale of metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science was developed by Pet ers and adapted to Turkish by the author. The correlations between the participants’ epistemological beliefs and metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science and the variables of grade level and gender were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and multiple regression analysis. The findings of the study showed participants to have positive epistemological beliefs and metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science. The participants’ epistemological beliefs and metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science were also found to not be significantly affected by the variables of grade or gender. In addition, epistemological beliefs were found to be a significant predictor of metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science.