THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EARTH SCIENCE EDUCATORS' CONFIDENCE IN THEIR ABILITIES TO TEACH FIELD-BASED EARTH SCIENCE COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES AND THE PERCEIVED SOURCES OF THAT CONFIDENCE

This study was conducted to determine what relationships exist between earth science educators' confidence in their abilities to teach field-based earth science cognitive-behavioral objectives and perceived sources of that confidence. Questionnaire items were selected, piloted, and a questionnaire devised and mailed to 320 earth science educators for completion. Responses were used to determine confidence levels for each earth science objective and mean-confidence levels for the sample population and each subgroup of respondents. Educators responding ranked teaching experiences as the greatest source of their confidence, followed by pre-service education and in-service education. The sample population expressed strong confidence in its ability to teach the field-based earth science cognitive-behavioral objectives included in the survey. Low confidence levels were found to exist for the sample population in areas concerning (1) aerial photography interpretation; (2) soil profiles, development, and types; (3) unconformities in sedimentary deposits; (4) formation of metamorphic rocks; and (5) regional and contact metamorphic rock zones. High confidence levels were found to exist for the sample population in areas concerning (1) topographic maps and profile sections, (2) physical properties of common economic minerals, (3) dip and strike, (4) recognizing and naming faults, and (5) classifying fractures. Present methods used in pre- and in-service education appear to be effective in those areas where respondents expressed high levels of confidence and less effective in those areas where respondents reported low levels of confidence in their abilities to teach field-based earth science. Despite the fact that 52.1 percent of the sample population had completed more than forty-five in-service semester hours, in-service education ranked behind teaching experience and pre-service education as a primary source of confidence for the sample population.