Epistemological beliefs of preservice social studies teachers

Abstract

Epistemological beliefs are an individual’s personal beliefs about what knowledge, knowing, and learning are. These beliefs are important for pre-service teachers since they may affect their teaching styles in the classrooms. This study aims to determine if the pre-service teachers’ undergraduate education affects their epistemological beliefs comparing the epistemological beliefs of the first and the fourth grade students at the Department of Social Studies Education in a state university in terms of their epistemological beliefs. The data were analyzed using independent groups t-test to compare the scores of pre-service social studies teachers in the sub-dimensions of the epistemological beliefs questionnaire (belief that learning depends on effort, belief that learning depends on skills, and belief in a single truth) in terms of their gender and grade level. The results of the study show that, except for the third dimension of the questionnaire, the fourth graders have more sophisticated beliefs than the first graders. There is no statistically significant difference between male and female pre-service teachers regarding their epistemological beliefs.