Turkish preservice and in-service teachers' beliefs about inquiry

The New Education System, which has taken effect in Turkey since 1990, promotes a more student-centered, collaborative, and constructivist approach to science teaching. In an effort to prepare teachers to teach in an inquiry-based fashion, the Turkish Ministry of Education has begun requiring the implementation of an inquiry-based preparatory science education program for pre-service teachers. The aim of this study was to examine Turkish pre-service teachers and in-service physics teachers' beliefs about inquiry teaching in order to investigate if there are any differences between the beliefs of the two groups. It was expected that the pre-service teachers who were participating in the new inquiry-based educational program administered by The Turkish Ministry of Education would possess beliefs about inquiry teaching that are more in line with reform-based philosophy. In this quantitative study, surveys were administered, either in person or by mail, to 99 in-service high school physics teachers and 86 pre-service high school physics teachers in different cities in Turkey. The participants in this study were randomly selected. The data were analyzed by using the Rasch Model followed by a two-sample t-test analysis. The results of this study have some implications for teacher education practices in Turkey and other similar programs elsewhere.