Date
12-2018
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Rebecca Lunde
Keywords
Epistemological Beliefs, Undergraduate Elementary Education Majors, Attitudes towards Science, Schraw et al's Epistemological Beliefs Inventory, Cobern's Thinking About Science Survey Instrument
Disciplines
Education | Higher Education
Recommended Citation
Bullock, Renae Reimer, "The Relationship between Epistemological Beliefs and Attitudes towards Science of Undergraduate Elementary Education Majors" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 1955.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/1955
Abstract
Much of the educational research that has investigated the attitudes of pre-service elementary educators towards science has seemed to show that their attitudes are negative towards science. Research also indicates that factors of gender, perceived competence, anxiety, perceived relation to their lives, and epistemological beliefs are related to pre-service elementary educators’ attitudes towards science. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between epistemological beliefs of undergraduate elementary education majors at a large, private, faith-based university in the southeastern United States and their attitudes towards science. Schraw et al.’s Epistemological Beliefs Inventory (EBI) (Schraw, Bendixen, & Dunkle, 2002) was used to measure the epistemological beliefs of undergraduate elementary education majors. Cobern’s Thinking About Science Survey Instrument-v2 (TSSI-v2) (Cobern, 2005) was used to measure attitudes toward science. A random convenience sample of residential, full-time undergraduate elementary education majors of traditional age (under 25 years of age) was obtained. A quantitative correlation design was used for this study. Spearman’s rho statistical test was used to test the hypotheses.
