Development and validation of the Korean Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (K-STEBI) for prospective elementary school teachers

Prospective elementary school teachers' science teaching self-efficacy beliefs depend on successful mastery of experiences in teacher preparation programs at the university and influence their behaviors in teaching science when they become an elementary school teacher. Ultimately, prospective teachers' science teaching self-efficacy beliefs are hypothesized to affect school students' effective learning of science. While there is a growing literature base addressing prospective teachers' science teaching self-efficacy beliefs in the United States as assessed using the Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument for prospective teachers (STEBI-B) developed by Enochs and Riggs (1990), there is little research about this concern in Korea mainly because there is no instrument to measure the self-efficacy beliefs of Korean prospective elementary school teachers. This study attempted to develop and validate the Korean Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (K-STEBI) for prospective elementary school teachers.;In this study, STEBI-B was translated into Korean and applied in a Korean school context. When an existing instrument is translated into another language there is a need to assess the validity and reliability of the translated instrument. Content, criterion, and construct validity for establishing the validity of the K-STEBI were involved. Coefficient alpha was used to assess the reliability of the K-STEBI and an item-scale score correlation supported the reliability assessment. Items in the K-STEBI were revised and refined a second time based on the results of the validity and reliability assessments. The final version was concluded that the K-STEBI was a valid and reliable measure of science teaching self-efficacy beliefs for Korean prospective elementary school teachers.;Further research of the validation processes of the K-STEBI is recommended to fully verify this tool in measuring prospective teachers' science teaching self-efficacy beliefs. It is expected that the validated K-STEBI will enable active research to be conducted in the self-efficacy beliefs of Korean prospective elementary school teachers. Possible studies include the identification of educational factors in preparation programs of the university that influence science teaching self-efficacy beliefs. It is hoped that subsequent research and development programs associated with science teaching self-efficacy beliefs of prospective teachers could change and improve prospective teacher preparation programs and elementary school science education in Korea. Several recommendations for using the K-STEBI with Korean prospective elementary school teachers are provided in this study.