Pre-Service Science Teachers? Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Ability in Engineering Design

The school system in Oman faces a problem when it comes to educating students with integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activities. This, in part, is returning to science teachers? preparation programs. The main aim of this proposed project is to close a research gap in Oman by exploring science student teachers? self-efficacy beliefs and ability on engineering design. A model for engineering design will be developed under Oman conditions. Besides, instruments for science student teachers at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) will be adapted and developed. These instruments will especially consider the specific cultural, gender aspects, and language conditions of Oman and Arab countries. A Self-Efficacy Beliefs for Teaching as Engineering Design Questionnaire (SEBTEDQ) will be used for measuring science student teachers? self-efficacy beliefs for teaching science as engineering design. An Open Test for Engineering Design (OPED) as Fair-Testing and Focus Group Interviews (FGI) using loud thinking will be utilized for assessing science student teachers? ability in preparing engineering design?based activities. The three instruments will be adapted/developed based on recent studies, and previous models of self-efficacy and engineering design. To use those items, aspects of the validity of the instruments must be assessed and judged by experts in the US, Germany, Oman, and some other Arab countries. The three instruments will be adapted/developed in Arabic and English. To check the quality measures of these instruments, a pilot study on a typical sample of science student teachers at SQU will be planned and conducted before the main studies. The quality of the instruments in both the pilot and main studies will be analyzed according to classical and item response theories. Then, the impact of demographics variables (gender, major, and preparation program) on science student teachers? self-efficacy beliefs and ability on engineering design will be investigated with a descriptive-analytical approach. The findings may help to reveal the quality level of preparation programs for a science teacher at SQU and its influence on course development as well as their performance as in-service science teachers at schools in the future. This can be applied to similar situations in other colleges and universities in Oman and Arab countries.