Abstract. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship among pre-service science teachers' personality traits, academic self-regulation and teaching self-efficacy by proposing and testing a conceptual model. For the specified purpose, 1794 pre-service science teachers participated in the study. The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire were administered to assess pre-service science teachers' teaching self-efficacy, personality, and academic self-regulation respectively. Results showed that agreeableness, neuroticism, performance approach goals, and use of metacognitive strategies are positively linked to different dimensions of teaching self-efficacy, namely self-efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. In general, while agreeableness and neuroticism were found to be positively associated with different facets of self-regulation and teaching self-efficacy, openness was found to be negatively linked to these adaptive outcomes.

The aim of this study was twofold: first, to examine the relationship between use of self-regulation strategies and academic performance; and second, to analyze gender differences in use of self-regulation strategies. For the specified purposes, 1794 senior pre-service science teachers (876 males, 905 females, and 13 no response) participated in the study. Results showed that GPA was significantly but not strongly associated with task value, metacognitive self-regulation, effort regulation, peer learning, mastery approach, performance approach, and mastery avoidance. It was also found that pre-service science teachers' scores of task value, metacognitive self-regulation, effort regulation, mastery approach, and mastery avoidance differ in terms of their gender.

This study aimed to investigate how well gender, socioeconomic status of family, and socio-cultural influences (perceived parents' achievement goals, and perceived teachers' achievement goals) predict middle school students' task value beliefs in science. Background Characteristics Survey, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, Perceived Parent Goal Emphases Scale and Perceived Teacher Goal Emphases Scale were administered to 977 middle school students in Turkey which may be viewed as a country possessing characteristics of both individualist and collectivist cultures. Consistent with the findings in individualistic cultures, results showed that middle school students who think that learning new things, improving skills in science are emphasized by their parents and science teachers tend to perceive science tasks as useful, interesting or enjoyable.