Pre-service Science Teachers’ Competence and Confidence in Scientific Inquiry

Abstract

The quality of science learning has a very important role in science education. The quality of science learning is largely determined by the quality of science teachers. Inquiry-based science learning is becoming a model that must be developed today. In order for inquiry-based learning to be carried out properly, science teachers must have adequate inquiry competencies. Teachers must also have adequate confidence in conducting inquiry-based learning with students in the classroom. The objective of this study was to examine students’ competence and confidence in scientific inquiry. 42 pre-service science teachers were involved in this study. Data collected were analyzed using Rasch modeling. The results of data analysis show that mean of the Rasch score for students’ competence (1.76 Logits; SD = 1.20) is higher than the mean of the Rasch score for students’ confidence (1. 41 Logits; SD = 1.01). These results show that although students feel competent to do inquiry, they do not yet fully have the confidence to carry out inquiry learning with students in classroom activities. Implications for a science teacher and pre-service science education based on these results are discussed.