Investigation of Turkish trainee teachers’ epistemological beliefs

The aim of this study was to determine Turkish trainee teachers’ epistemological beliefs and to examine them with respect to some variables. The study group was composed of 331 Turkish trainee teachers studying at Dumlupinar University Education Faculty. Data were collected using the Turkish version of the Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (Deryakulu & Büyüköztürk, 2002, 2005; Schommer, 1990). It was found that trainee teachers’ beliefs that learning depends on effort rather than ability were sophisticated compared to their other beliefs; while the belief that there is only one unchanging truth was naïve compared to their other beliefs. Turkish trainee teachers’ epistemological beliefs differed significantly in terms of gender. That is, female students believed more than did males that learning depends on effort rather than ability.