A Cross-Cultural Study of Preservice Elementary Teachers' Epistemological Beliefs and Gender Effect

Yılmaz Tüzün Ö., Topçu M. S., Hanuscin D. L.

The American Educational Research Association (AERA), Illinois, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, 9 - 13 Nisan 2007, ss.1

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Illinois
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Amerika Birleşik Devletleri
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study explored the preservice elementary teachers’ (PET) epistemological beliefs across the USA and Turkey and examined the effect of gender on PET’s epistemological beliefs. Participants included 141 PETs in a major research university in Ankara, Turkey and 96 PETs in a large Midwestern university in the USA. According to explanatory factor analysis results, in both the Turkish and USA samples Factor 1, 2, and 3 were named as “Simple knowledge”, “Innate ability”, and “Certain knowledge” respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated reasonable fit of the proposed model for each culture separately. MANOVA analysis revealed that for two countries epistemological beliefs are significantly different from each other in favor of USA. No significant differences were found between boys and girls.