Arizona Agriculture Teachers’ Perceived Self-Efficacy to Teach Science Content

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between sources of science content knowledge and the perceived self-efficacy to teach science content among practicing Arizona agriculture teachers. Bandura’s (1977) theory of self-efficacy was the theoretical framework that guided this study. Sources of science content knowledge were derived from Rice and Kitchel’s (2015) conceptual framework. On average, agriculture teachers were somewhat confident to teach science. A moderate bivariate correlation was found between teachers’ high school agriculture program experience as a youth, current teaching experience, experiences with agriculture jobs and internships, and their self-efficacy to teach science content. A simultaneous multiple regression was implemented; explaining 29% of agriculture teachers’ self-efficacy to teach science content from six of the seven sources of content knowledge. Teaching experience, SBAE, internet and other media, professional development, agriculture related jobs and internships, and years spent teaching contribute to R2. Further research recommendations include applying qualitative methods to explore unexplained variance and identify additional sources of knowledge. Recommendations for practice include exploring content specific professional development opportunities, such as CASE, and encouraging teacher preparation programs to re-evaluate curricula to include science specific PCK to enhance the preparation of preservice teachers.