Science teacher self-efficacy and student achievement: A quantitative correlational study

A teacher's sense of self-efficacy may have significant influence on the pedagogical decisions in the classroom. An elementary school teacher's sense of self-efficacy in teaching science may negatively influence student achievement in science. Negative beliefs concerning science or the ability to teach and promote student learning in science may inhibit student achievement in science. The purpose of this quantitative correlational research study was to determine the degree of relationship among the predictor variables of fifth-grade science teachers' personal science teaching efficacy and science teaching outcome expectancy to the criterion variable of student achievement in science in a large urban school district in North Carolina. Fifth-grade elementary science teachers (N=31) were surveyed using the STEBI to collect data on personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE) and science teaching outcome expectancy (STOE). For each fifth-grade teacher, classroom composite scale scores were determined by calculating mean scale scores on the North Carolina End-of-Grade Test of Science Grade 5 as artifact of student achievement. The first Spearman's rho analysis resulted in a positive correlation between PSTE scale scores and science classroom composite scale scores with a resulting rs value of .302. The second Spearman's rho analysis measured the strength of the relationship between STOE and science classroom composite scale scores; the resulting rs value of -.053 indicated no statistically significant correlation existed between the two variables. The results obtained from this research study encourage further exploration of elementary science teacher self-efficacy to inform instruction, improve pre-service and in-service teacher preparation towards overall scientific literacy.