Pseudo-scientific beliefs and knowledge of the nature of science in pre-service teachers

This study aimed to determine the levels of pre-service teachers' nature of science (NOS) knowledge, assess their pseudo-scientific beliefs, and examine the relationship between aspects of their NOS knowledge and these beliefs. It also aimed to determine whether NOS knowledge and pseudo-scientific beliefs depended on the discipline and gender. A survey method was conducted in this study. Data were collected from 215 pre-service teachers who are being educated in different fields in a state university. Two different five-point Likert scales were applied. Scale 1, which has three factors, measured pseudo-scientific beliefs, while Scale 2, which has seven factors, measured NOS knowledge. As a result, pre-service teachers' NOS knowledge was found to be inadequate and their pseudo-scientific beliefs were excessive. All factors of Scale 1 were positively correlated with each other, and they were correlated with some components of NOS knowledge. Significant differences were found between disciplines in the analysis of the factors of Scale 2; however, no significant differences were found between genders.