Self efficacies of science teachers about the applying of project based teaching

The aim of this study is to investigate the self-efficacy of science teachers, working in the province of Malatya in the 2013-2014 academic year, for the project based teaching. A 5 point Likert-type scale for self-efficacy of project based teaching with 24 items developed by us was used in the study. It was found as a result of the factor analysis carried out to determine the construct validity of the scale that the factor loadings of the scale consisted of 5 factors ranging from 0.54 to 0.80 and the internal consistency coefficient Cronbach Alpha value calculated for reliability study was 0.92. The results showed that the scale was valid and reliable. The 24-item scale for self-efficacy of project-based teaching developed at the other phase of the study was applied to a total of 76 science teachers working in Malatya province and including 39 males and 37 females. While 57 of the teachers were graduated from the faculty of education, 19 were graduated from the faculty of science and literature. 54 of the teachers included in the study were working for 0-15 years, the remaining 22 teachers were working for 16 years and more. 52 of the teachers were working in the province and 24 were working in the district. Based on all these criteria, the self-efficacy of science teachers for project-based teaching was compared. Causal-comparative method was used as data collection tool in the study. The scale prepared was likert type and scored between 1 and 5. SPSS 21.0 (Statistical Package for Social Science) packaged software was used to analyze the data obtained from the scale. The obtained results were evaluated at significance level of 95% (p<0.05). At the end of the study, the self-efficacy level of science teachers for project-based teaching applications was determined as 4.16. Accordingly, it can be asserted that the self-efficacy levels of the teachers for the project-based teaching in science education were high. As a result of statistical analyses, it was found that the self-efficacy level of female teachers was higher than male teachers, but no significant difference was found between the groups (p>0.05). While the self-efficacy levels of the teachers graduated from the faculty of education were higher than those graduated from the faculty of science and literature, this difference was not statistically significant. As a result of the statistical analysis, the self-efficacy of the teachers who were working for 15 years and less was statistically significant than the self-efficacy perceptions of the teachers who were working for 16 years and more only in terms of the subscales of giving feedback and alternative evaluation (p<0.05). The general self-efficacy perceptions of the teachers working in the district were higher than those working in the province, but no significant difference was found between the groups (p>0.05). On the other hand, it was found that the self-efficacy perceptions of the teachers working in the district were statistically significantly higher than those working in the province in the subscales of "dominance-guidance to the project process", "planning-readiness reflection", "giving feedback and alternative evaluation" (p<0.05). Key Words: Science Teacher, Project Based Teaching, Self-efficacy