Preservice science teachers teaching efficacy beliefs about a socioscientific issue (GM foods) and the relationships between efficacy beliefs and epistemological beliefs

Teaching socioscientific issues gains importance in many countries such as Turkey. In teaching these issues, teachers should be experienced and hold high teaching efficacy beliefs. In the present study, it has been investigated the preservice science teachers? teaching efficacy beliefs about GM Foods, which is a socioscientific issue, and the relationships between epistemologies and the efficacy beliefs. The questionnaires titled `Self-efficacy beliefs? and `Teaching efficacy beliefs about GM foods? have been administered to 382 preservice science teachers at three universities. The findings have been analysed using both descriptive and inferential analysis. The results have showed that preservice science teachers hold moderately high teaching efficacy beliefs about GM foods and that these efficacy beliefs possessed relationships with epistemologies. Key words: Socioscientific issues, self-efficacy, epistemological beliefs, preservice science teacher