ANALYSIS OF SCIENCE TEACHER CANDIDATES’ ATTITUDES, BEHAVIOR AND SELF-EFFICACY TOWARDS RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to analyze attitudes, behavior and self-efficacy levels of science teacher candidates towards renewable energy and environment. The study is conducted over three research questions. These are, “Is there a significant difference among pre-test, post-test and retention-test scores of science teacher candidates regarding environmental behavior and environmental self-efficacy?” Participants of this study consist of 37 science teacher candidates, who applied to the project titled as ‘Environment and Energy with Pro-Fe(Science)ssional Education’ held between the dates 17th-23rd June, 2014. Pre-test, post-test and retention-test of renewable energy, environmental behavior and environmental self-efficacy are used to determine changes in attitudes, behaviour and self-efficacy of Science teacher candidates towards these variables. The scales used as data collection tools are respectively, “Environmental Behavior”, “Renewable Energy Attitude” and “Self-Efficacy Beliefs through Environmental Education”. In the light of findings obtained from data, post-test scores are found to be higher than pre-test scores and retention-test scores are observed to be lower compared to post-tests. According to analysis of variance and Bonferroni multiple comparison test, statistically significant difference is found between post test - retention test and pre-test scores. When the obtained results are considered, it is concluded that 8-day-nature education makes a major contribution to the participants’ attitudes towards renewable energy, environmental behaviour and environmental self-efficacy.