Abstract

This study aimed at developing a scale for determining the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cultural heritage. The study group consisted of 378 pre-service teachers attending the department of social sciences teaching at Adnan Menderes University, Kastamonu University, and UÅŸak University. It was found that the correlation coefficients obtained in item-factor total and adjusted correlations of the scale were over .35 and statistically significant for all items. The exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the scale had three sub-dimensions: “Cultural Heritage for the Society”, “Consciousness of Cultural Heritage”, and “The Transfer of Cultural Heritage”. According to the results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the Chi-square (X²) value fit for the model created for the scale and statistical significance levels showed that the proposed model was suitable for the collected data. The research findings indicated that the scale had adequate internal consistency and could be used for measuring the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cultural heritage.

Key words: Attitude, confirmatory factor analysis, culture, exploratory factor analysis heritage, validity, reliability, scale, social studies, teacher candidates.