TURKISH ELEMENTARY PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS
The purposes of the study were to investigate 1rt, 2nd, 3rd and 4rd grade pre-service elementary teachers’ epistemological beliefs and how these beliefs change with grade level, gender, and department. The sample of the research included 470 pre-service elementary teachers. Schommer’s Epistemological Belief Questionnaire (SEQ) was used to collect data. To evaluate the effect of grade level, gender and department on pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs, independent t test, and ANOVA were conducted. Results showed that Pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs of simple knowledge were not statistically significant in terms of gender, department and grade level, pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs of quick learning were not statistically significant in terms of gender and grade level. Moreover, innate ability was not statistically significant in terms of department. On the other hand, pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs innate ability has a statistically significant in terms of gender and grade level. Furthermore, pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs of quick learning have a statistically significant in terms of a department. As a result of the research, it may be necessary to investigate and develop more epistemological beliefs of teachers and pre-service teachers. The effects of the research results are discussed.

Keywords
Epistemological beliefs, pre-service elementary teachers, gender, department, grade level