Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine epistemological beliefs of pre-service teachers who attend social studies and science and technology teaching programs; and to investigate how these beliefs varies regarding grade level, gender and departments. The sample of the study is composed of 300 social studies, 260 science and technology pre-service teachers who attended Ataturk University Kazım Karabekir Education Faculty in 2013-2014 academic year. In the study, Epistemological Beliefs Scale that developed by Schommer (1990) and adapted to Turkish by Deryakulu and Öztürk (2005) was used. According to the research findings it is determined that there are significant differences in epistemological beliefs of social studies and science and technology teachers regarding the variables of gender, department and grade level. Significant differences were found regarding gender in favor of females; between first and fourth grades social studies pre-service teachers, in favor of first graders; between first and fourth grades science and technology pre-service teachers, again, in favor of first graders. Regarding department variable it is determined that first grade social studies pre-service teachers have more sophisticated epistemological beliefs than fourt grade social studies pre-service teachers and both first and fourth graders of science and technology teaching department.

Key words: Epistemological beliefs, pre-service teacher.