Constructivist and Traditional Approaches to Teaching and Learning: Validation of Teacher Beliefs Survey

Yalvaç B., Türker N., Yılmaz Tüzün Ö.

The National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Maryland, United States Of America, 30 March - 02 April 2008, pp.262

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • City: Maryland
  • Country: United States Of America
  • Page Numbers: pp.262
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to validate a Teacher Beliefs Survey (TBS). The TBS has been developed to measure teachers’ beliefs of constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching and learning (Woolley, Benjamin, & Woolley, 2004). The TBS contains 34 items in four dimensions, namely, Traditional Teaching, Constructivist Teaching, Traditional Management, and Constructivist Parent. Data were collected from 411 preservice elementary science and mathematics teachers in Turkey. Our analysis revealed a reasonable model with four-factor structures. The final model included 19 items. Our indexes are parallel with Woolley et al.’s (2004) findings. The goodness of fit statistics were 2 = 516.28, df = 146, NFI = .78, NNFI = .80, CFI = .83, GFI = .90, AGFI = .84, RMSEA = .08. We also investigated the relationships among teachers’ self-efficacy and their beliefs of the constructivist and the traditional approaches to teaching and learning.