Development of a Questionnaire on Scientific Models -Elementary Pre-service Teachers' Perceptions of Scientific Models-

This study developed and validated a multidimensional questionnaire to examine pre-service elementary teachers’ perceptions of scientific models. The questionnaire comprised items on ‘Explanation and Prediction of Phenomena’, ‘Representation of Features’, ‘Provisionality’, ‘Limitedness’, and ‘Diversity’. Factor analysis revealed that pre-service elementary teachers positively perceived five factors regarding scientific models: ‘Explanation and Prediction of Phenomena’, ‘Representation of Characteristics’, ‘Provisionality’, ‘Limitedness’, and ‘Diversity’. Comparing the mean values across these factors revealed that the ‘provisionality’ factor was perceived most positively, while the ‘limitedness’ factor received the lowest positive recognition. These findings highlight the multidimensional nature of perceptions of scientific models and underscore the need for explicit instruction on the epistemological aspects of models, particularly their limitations, in teacher education.