The Scientific Attitudes of Pre-and In-service Biology Teachers

Author: Yeong-Jing Cheng(Department of Biology, National Taiwan Normal University)

Abstract：

The Scientific Attitude Test(SAT) was used to explore the science attitudes of pre- (seniors) and in-service biology teachers. The internal-consistency reliability of the SAT was 0.66, a value which is slightly lower than those of the attitude scales reported in the literature. Data analysis showed that the discriminant validities of the six attitude components subscales (AC) were adequate and satisfactory.
The results of the study indicated that preservice biology teachers scored sig-nificantly higher on the SAT than inservice teachers (p<0.01). This finding was also found in three of the six attitude components subscales, namely, AC-l(Objectivity), AC-3(Respect for evidence), and AC-5 (Open-mindedness). Biology-major teachers scored significantly higher on the SAT than non-biology-majors (p<0.05). This finding was also found in AC-1, AC-2(Curiosity), and AC-5 attitude components subscales. In general, no statisticaly significant difference was found between the SAT scores of male and female subjects. While in preservice teachers, female subjects scored significantly higher than male subjects.
The results of data analysis further indicated that moderate positive correlations were found between scientific attitudes and the other three biology teaching competencies, namely, biology subject-matter competency, understanding of the nature of science, and biology inquiry skills. The subjects with higher SAT scores performed significantly better on BSCT, UNSI, and BISI than those with lower SAT scores.

Keywords：Scientific Attitudes, Teacher Education, Biology Teachers

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