Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2004 Science Teachers' Worldviews: A Way to Understand Beliefs and Practices Yalcin Yalaki Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION SCIENCE TEACHERS’ WORLDVIEWS: A WAY TO UNDERSTAND BELIEFS AND PRACTICES BY YALCIN YALAKI A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2004 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Yalcin Yalaki defended on April 27, 2004. ________________________________________________ Nancy T. Davis Professor Directing Dissertation ________________________________________________ Kenneth A. Goldsby Outside Committee Member ________________________________________________ Penny J. Gilmer Committee Member ________________________________________________ Karen Monkman Committee Member Approved: ______________________________________________________________________________ David Foulk, Chairperson, Department of Middle and Secondary Education ______________________________________________________________________________ Richard Kunkel, Dean, College of Education The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii Dedicated to Zahide iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to acknowledge my major professor Dr. Nancy T. Davis for her help and guidance during my dissertation study. I also would like to acknowledge the Republic of Turkey National Ministry of Education and the Office of Educational Attaché at Turkish Consulate General in New York for providing me the chance to pursue this doctoral degree and supporting me throughout my graduate studies at Florida State University. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of tables..................................................................................................................... vii List of figures................................................................................................................... viii Abstract............................................................................................................................ ix 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 1 2. REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE.............................................................. 4 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 4 Teacher Beliefs..................................................................................................... 4 The Concept of Worldview.................................................................................. 9 Phil Washburn.......................................................................................... 10 Michael Kearney...................................................................................... 13 William Cobern........................................................................................ 17 Clare Graves, Don Beck, Christopher Cowan......................................... 19 So what is worldview? ............................................................................ 29 Theoretical perspective........................................................................................ 30 3. METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................... 40 Research problem and specific research questions.............................................. 40 Research setting and methodology....................................................................... 40 Methods and analysis........................................................................................... 42 Quality criteria..................................................................................................... 47 Ethical issues........................................................................................................ 49 4. FINDINGS....................................................................................................................... 52 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 52 Suzan’s Case........................................................................................................ 52 Sara’s Case........................................................................................................... 83 Aylin’s Case......................................................................................................... 119 Brian’s Case......................................................................................................... 154 v 5. ANALYSIS..................................................................................................................... 187 Introduction......................................................................................................... 187 Beliefs, Worldviews, Practices........................................................................... 193 Assertions about Suzan........................................................................... 193 Assertions about Sara.............................................................................. 196 Assertions about Aylin............................................................................ 199 Assertions about Brian............................................................................ 201 Comparison of the four teachers............................................................. 204 Changes In Worldviews...................................................................................... 208 6. DISCUSSION................................................................................................................. 212 Conclusions......................................................................................................... 212 Implications......................................................................................................... 216 Suggestions For Future Research........................................................................ 218 What Have I Learned? ....................................................................................... 218 Limitations.......................................................................................................... 219 APPENDIX A................................................................................................................. 221 APPENDIX B................................................................................................................. 232 APPENDIX C................................................................................................................. 234 REFERENCES................................................................................................................ 237 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.......................................................................................... 245 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Data collection matrix................................................................................................ 47 Table 2. Participating teachers’ beliefs about the purpose of education.................................. 188 Table 3. Participating teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning....................................... 188 Table 4. Participating teachers’ beliefs about the roles of teachers in learning....................... 189 Table 5. Participating teachers’ beliefs about the roles of students in learning....................... 189 Table 6. Participating teachers’ beliefs about assessment........................................................ 190 Table 7. Participating teachers’ beliefs about science.............................................................. 191 Table 8. Participating teachers’ feelings about their jobs and school context......................... 191 Table 9. Participating teachers’ worldviews based on Grave’s (1981) model......................... 192 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. An example of the classification of the non-self...................................................... 14 Figure 2. Clare Graves’ model of developmental levels in human psychology...................... 20 Figure 3. Wilber’s four quadrants model................................................................................. 37 Figure 4. The chart used to interpret the Values Test results................................................... 43 Figure 5. The results of the Values Test that Suzan took two times........................................ 75 Figure 6. The results of the Values Test that Sara took two times........................................... 113 Figure 7. The results of the Values Test that Aylin took two times......................................... 148 Figure 8. The results of the Values Test that Brian took two times......................................... 180 viii ABSTRACT Understanding science teachers’ beliefs is important for science teacher educators, because such understanding is a prerequisite for promoting change within the framework of educational reform. The worldview model developed by Graves (1981) and Beck and Cowan (1996) provides a holistic approach to understanding