Investigating the correlation among pre-service science teachers level of forming associations between concepts, self-regulation and motivational beliefs

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship among pre-service science teachers? level of forming relationship, self-regulation and motivational beliefs towards science. Sequential explanatory mixed method was used in this research. The sample of this study consisted of 47 freshman students who were enrolled in General Physic II and General Physics Laboratory II in science education program at Gazi University. Concept maps were used to determine students? level of forming relationship among concepts of electric circuit. Moreover, Turkish version of Students? Adaptive Learning Engagement in Science (SALES-TV) questionnaire was administered to determine students? level of motivational beliefs and self-regulation. SALES-TV has four sub dimension namely goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy and self-regulation. Reliability of the goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy and self-regulation was calculated as .90, .89, .87, .86, respectively. In the first part of the study, the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was calculated to examine the relationships between variables. In the second part of the study, pre-service science teachers were categorized according to their level of forming relationship among concepts as high and low. The differences between two groups in terms of self-regulation and motivational beliefs were investigated through interview questions. The results of the correlational analysis revealed that there was statistically significant correlation among pre-service science teachers? forming relationship among concepts, self-efficacy and self-regulation. Moreover, the analysis of interview questions revealed that there are some differences between participants who have different level of forming relationship among concepts in terms of self-regulation and motivational beliefs. Keywords: Task Value, Goal Orientation, Self-Efficacy, Self-Regulation, Conceptual Understanding