Research Information System
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION, vol.1, pp.1-23, 2025 (SSCI)
Implementation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) practices in primary schools, especially in science classrooms, may depend on primary school teachers’ teacher self-efcacy for STEM practices. Therefore, determining such practices in the pre-service period and the variables that play a role on this selfefcacy can be considered an important step for efective future STEM practices. This study sought to determine whether STEM awareness and twenty-frst century skills competence perceptions (21 CSCP) are important factors regarding teacher self-efcacy for STEM practices. Unfortunately, there is little evidence in the literature about the role of STEM awareness and 21 CSCP on pre-service primary school teachers (PPST)’s teacher self-efcacy for STEM practices. This study has the potential to expand our limited knowledge of this subject. In this study, conducted with 233 PPST, data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and hierarchical multiple regression. The results revealed that PPST’s teacher self-efcacy for STEM practices was 3.61 scores. There was no signifcant difer between PPST’s teacher self-efcacy for STEM practices by program year. Given these ramifcations, it is advised that the teacher preparation programs be examined and that STEM-focused coursework and STEM practices be incorporated into the program in a way that promotes interdisciplinary connections. Finally, the study’s main fnding was that STEM awareness and 21 CSCP explained 31.5% of the variance accounted for teacher self-efcacy for STEM practices. The current regression value results theoretically explain how these two variables, among many others, contribute to the explanation of STEM, an area of study with a complicated structure. It may be recommended that the role of these factors be investigated through observation, interview, or intervention studies for future research in order to better understand the practical roles of these theoretically remarkable variables.