Exploring Nature of Science Understanding, Science Self-efficacy and Their Relationships Among Secondary School Pre-service Science Teachers in Ethiopia

Nature of science (NOS) conception and science self-efficacy (SSE) are among the components of scientific literacy and the professional competency of science teachers. In this study, pre-service science teachers (PSSTs) (n = 145) NOS conception, SSE, and the relationships among these constructs were explored. Moreover, the existence of differences in the construct in gender, scientific disciplines, and year levels was investigated. We used the instruments Students Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry Scale (SUSSI) for NOS conception and the SSE scale for SSE data collection, and mean comparisons and Spearman correlation for the analysis. PSST’s overall NOS conception and SSE were found to be less informed and moderate, respectively. Specifically, they have an uninformed conception of the NOS theme’s distinction between law and theory, and scientific methodology. PSST’s NOS conception was not significantly influenced by differences in year level, gender, or science disciplines, but SSE was significantly influenced by year levels. Overall NOS conception and SSE did not show a statistically significant correlation. However, SSE was found to be positively correlated with scientific theory tentativeness and negatively correlated with distinction between scientific laws and theories themes of NOS. These findings indicate that the development of NOS conception and SSE among PSST needs attention from science curriculum developers and science teacher educators. Furthermore, it showed the necessity for consideration of independent development strategies for NOS conceptions and SSE. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024.