Investigation of Early Childhood Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Science Teaching:A Path Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate early childhood teachers’ attitudes toward science teaching by developing and examining a path model. The model was developed to explore the relationship between variables in early childhood teachers’ background such as years of teaching experience, teacher-child ratio, the number of science content courses, science teaching methods courses and teachers’ attitudes toward science teaching. In the model, the relationship is mediated by personal interest in science and participation in in-service workshops. Survey data was collected from teachers in private early childhood education centers in an urban northeastern U.S. city. The results of path analysis yielded an acceptable fit with the data. More detailed discussion about the mediating effects are discussed.