SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS OF PHYSICS STUDENT TEACHERS’: EFFECTS OF GENDER, CLASS LEVEL AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

The aim of this research is to determine the physics teacher candidates’ self-efficacy beliefs towards physics, and to investigate the effects of gender, university grade level, and academic achievement on the self-efficacy beliefs. A total of 451 physics teacher candidates who were enrolled in Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education in Physics Education Programs at Dokuz Eylül University, Hacettepe University, Balıkesir University, and Karadeniz Technical University participated in the study. Suryey method was used in this research. The data of the research were collected by “Physics Self-Efficacy Scale” and analyzed by using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and follow-up tests. Results indicated that self-efficacy beliefs of physics teacher candidates significantly changed with respect to gender, class level and academic achievement.