Epistemological beliefs and values as predictors of preservice science teachers' environmental moral reasoning

Bibliographic Data

ID21353892
AuthorsBüşra TUNCAY YÜKSEL (0000-0002-4129-7256, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education Giresun University Giresun Türkiye, corresponding author), Özgül Yılmaz Tüzün (0000-0001-7869-9251, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education Middle East Technical University Ankara Türkiye), Dana L Zeidler (0000-0002-4250-4982, Department of Teaching and Learning University of South Florida Tampa Florida USA)
Year2023
Volume60
Issue9
Pages2111-2144
Publication date2023-11-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Research in Science Teaching (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4308 • E-ISSN: 1098-2736
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/tea.21889
OpenAlexW4385368848
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited100

The purpose of this study was to test predictability of environmental moral reasoning patterns of preservice science teachers (PSTs) by their epistemological beliefs and values. Four environmental moral dilemma scenarios that reflect different environmental moral dilemma situations taking place in four outdoor recreation contexts (i.e., hiking, picnicking, fishing, camping) were used to trigger and examine environmental moral reasoning of PSTs. Centers of moral concerns (i.e., ecocentric, anthropocentric, egocentric) and underlying reasons of environmental moral considerations (e.g., aesthetical concerns, justice issues) were used to investigate PSTs' environmental moral reasoning patterns. Data were collected from 1524 PSTs enrolled in six universities located in Central Anatolia region of Türkiye. A path model was proposed to test relationships of PSTs' epistemological beliefs and values to their environmental moral reasoning for each environmental moral dilemma scenario. Results indicated good‐fit between study data and the path model tested for each environmental moral reasoning scenario. Variances in environmental moral reasoning scores that were explained by the path models had small to medium effect size values of 0.06 to 0.26. Statistical significance and direction of the tested relationships showed changes depending on the moral dilemma scenario context and focus of environmental moral reasoning. Nevertheless, path analyses consistently revealed positively significant relationships between environmental moral reasoning categories and epistemological beliefs in omniscient authority and self‐transcendence and tradition values. Implications for science education policy and practice are discussed

Context (archaeology) · Dilemma · Environmental education · Epistemology · Geography · Moral development · Moral disengagement · Moral psychology · Moral reasoning · Pedagogy · Social cognitive theory of morality · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Psychology · Social Psychology

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