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The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing teachers' intentions to implement the four strands (inquiry, knowledge, conditions, and applications) of the State of Ohio's (US.) Compe-tency Based Science Model. Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior was used to examine the influence of three primary constructs (attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) on teachers' intentions to engage in the targeted behaviors. The teachers' salient beliefs for each of the primary constructs were further examined to determine their degree of contribution. Differences between various teacher populations for both intent and the three primary constructs were also investigated. The data were obtained using survey research (N = 800 Ohio teachers, randomly selected and stratified by grade level and state region). Backward solution multiple regression and analysis of variance techniques were used for statistical analyses. Results indicated that the attitude toward the behavior construct held the greatest influence of Ohio teachers' intent to implement all four strands of the science model; several salient beliefs for each of the three constructs significantly contribute to the constructs; and significant differences exist between various teacher populations for both intent and the three constructs.

The primary purpose of this study was to develop and apply a method for assessing teachers' context beliefs about their science teaching environment. Interviews with 130 purposefully selected teachers resulted in 28 categories of environmental factors and/or people who were perceived to influence science teaching. These categories were used to develop items for the Context Beliefs about Teaching Science instrument and provided evidence for content validity. Construct validity was partially confirmed through factor analysis that resulted in 26 items and two subscales on the final instrument. Using Ford's Motivation Systems Theory and Bandura's Theory of Collective Efficacy, additional evidence for construct validity was found in the modest correlation of context beliefs with outcome expectancy beliefs and the low correlation with science teaching self-efficacy beliefs. The instrument was tested using 262 teachers participating in long-term science professional development programs. These teachers possessed fairly positive context beliefs and, according to Ford's theory, should be capable of effective functioning in the classroom. It was concluded that the assessment of context beliefs would complement current science teacher self-efficacy measures, thereby allowing researchers to develop profiles of science teachers' personal agency belief patterns. It could also be used to determine the factors which predict particular personal agency belief patterns, and assess teachers' perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of school science programs, and could be used in planning and monitoring professional development experiences for science teachers.

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