Attitudes towards Science and the impact of epistemic beliefs on pre-service primary teachers’ scientific literacy

Abstract

Attitudes towards science have an important role in society, as they affect people’s scientific literacy, which is cultivated from an early age, leading to the need for scientific literate teachers. The purpose of the present study was to detect pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards science and examine whether their beliefs about science influence their scientific literacy or not. One hundred and eighty-six Primary Education students from Greece participated in the study. The participants completed an online questionnaire about themselves and their family as well as their views and their attitudes towards science. The questionnaire used in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was adapted to the requirements of this study, in order to reveal individuals’ attitudes. The results confirmed that scientific literacy is composed of five indices, some of which are affected by gender, high school courses and year of studies. Moreover, the research data show a significant relationship between participants’ science performance and their beliefs about science.