The investigation of epistemological beliefs of primary school teachers according to some demographic variables and their information technology use

The information age makes it necessary to revise education at schools in terms of how we perceive ?knowledge?. Is it something changing and evolving opposed to something fixed and absolute? Is ?learning? constructing meaning? by evaluating information about a given situation or problem opposed to receiving and storing information? Teacher?s epistemological beliefs will shape their decisions about what to do for what purpose in the classroom for a desired outcome; therefore, teachers? beliefs will be influential on how they will use technology in their practices. This study focuses on epistemological beliefs of primary teachers and differences in these beliefs in terms of gender, years in profession, education background, subject matter they teach, and type of school they work at, as well as variables related to their technology use. The sample comprised of 608 randomly selected teachers from 41 schools in Bakırköy and Bahçelievler, stanbul. Schommer?s Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire and a form addressing research variables were used to collect data. Factor analysis pointed out a three dimension structure with 38 items, leaving out 25 off the 63 items in the original scale. The three factors named as ?The source of knowledge is the authority and ability to learn is innate?, ?Learning is not related to effort?, and ?Knowledge is single and certain?. The study revealed that the primary teachers believe that individuals can construct meaning, ability to learn can be improved and effort results in learning; however, they also believe that knowledge is certain and absolute. Teachers with a university degree and 1-10 years of experience have more mature beliefs than the teachers without a university degree and with a 26 and more years of experience. Internet users have more sophisticated beliefs than non-users and teachers who use computer technology in teaching believe more that the effort and hard work will result in learning. Keywords: Epistemological beliefs, Beliefs about knowledge and learning, Teachers? use of Information Technologies.