THE RELATIONSHIP OF PUPIL CONTROL TO PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY SCIENCE TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY AND OUTCOME EXPECTANCY

The investigators' intentions in this study were to examine preservice elementary teachers' sense of self-efficacy with regard to science te aching and to define the construct of self-efficacy with greater clari ty. Additionally, the construct of pupil control was examined. To gath er information toward these purposes, we investigated the following qu estions: Do prospective elementary teachers' efficacy beliefs relate t o their beliefs concerning classroom management or control?; and How i s a measure of self-efficacy related to prospective teachers' self-rep orted choice concerning the teaching of science, amount of time spent in performing ''hands-on'' science, and/or perceived effectiveness as future elementary science teachers? Self-efficacy was measured as two distinct constructs, personal self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. Si gnificant correlations were found between personal science teaching se lf-efficacy and (1) the number of college science courses taken; (2) t he number of years of high school science taken; (3) respondent's choi ce of science instructional delivery; and (4) respondent's perceived e ffectiveness in teaching science. When the outcome expectancy subscale is considered, however, only one significant correlation is indicated ; perceived effectiveness in teaching science was significantly correl ated with outcome expectancy. Personal science teaching self-efficacy was significantly correlated with pupil control ideology while outcome expectancy was not. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.