PERCEPTIONS OF STREAM AND SELF-EFFICACY IN ENGINEERING DESIGN SKILLS AMONG PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS: SCALE ADAPTATION, VALIDITY-RELIABILITY, AND RELATIONAL EVIDENCE

Abstract

As interdisciplinary and design-based learning approaches gain importance in teacher education, there is an increasing need for valid and reliable instruments to evaluate pre-service teachers’ perceptions of STREAM education and related competencies. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Turkish adaptation of the STREAM Perception and Implementation Challenges Scale for Pre-Service Teachers (STREAM-PICS) and its relationship with engineering design self-efficacy. A methodological and relational survey design was employed with 498 pre-service teachers in Türkiye. The adaptation process included translation, expert review, back-translation, and pilot-testing. Confirmatory factor analysis using the DWLS estimation method was performed due to the ordinal data structure and violation of multivariate normality assumptions; four items with low factor loadings and high error variances were removed. The final 26-item model confirmed a three-factor structure: perceptions of STREAM implementation, STREAM disciplines, and implementation challenges. Reliability analyses showed acceptable Cronbach's alpha, McDonald’s omega, and composite reliability for all sub-dimensions. Correlation analyses revealed positive relationships between the first two STREAM dimensions and engineering design self-efficacy, whereas the implementation challenges dimension showed weak relationships. Significant differences were found by department, whereas no significant differences emerged by grade level. Keywords: engineering design self-efficacy, measurement invariance, pre-service teachers, scale adaptation, STREAM education