Perceived Peer Support and Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs of Preservice Elementary Teachers

Abstract

112 preservice elementary teachers’ perceived peer support levels in a teacher education classroom and their personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE) beliefs were investigated. A significant portion of the participants expressed receiving very low academic and social support from their peers. Based on the results from the multiple regression analysis, perceived peer support scores have been concluded to be a significant predictor of the PSTE scores. Similar to the results from previous studies on PSTE beliefs, perceived peer support level was found to be impacted not by participants’ gender, but by their high-school major area. Parallel to the previous studies, comparing the PSTE scores by high school major area, preservice teachers with science majors have been found to perceive higher peer support, compared to non-science majors. The significant positive correlation between the perceived peer support and PSTE scores supports Bandura’s theory that social environment is an important source of self-efficacy beliefs.