Existing research looking into pre-service science teachers’ Science Epistemic Beliefs (SEB), Approaches to Learning Science (ALS) and Conceptions of Teaching (CoT) in Vietnam is apparently scarce. In this situation, this preliminary study aimed at sketching a picture of the current views of those three constructs, i.e. SEB, ALS and CoT, of student teachers in Vietnam by conducting a survey in the context of one education university in Danang City – the biggest city in the central region of Vietnam. In specific, this study inquired Vietnamese pre-service science teachers’ views concerning SEB, ALS and CoT to investigate the inter-relationship among those three constructs. Besides, the study was also to identify the differences in participants’ SEB, ALS and CoT in terms of two demographic data types selected as independent variables, namely gender and educational level (sophormores and juniors).

In this study, 328 Vietnamese pre-service science teachers participated in the survey. The study took a quantitative research approach in which a paper-based composite questionnaire (SEB, ALS and CoT scales included into one surveying tool) was adopted from previous studies with an acceptable validity and reliability for assessing personal views concerning SEB, ALS and CoT.

The general findings indicated a difference in Vietnamese pre-service science teachers’ science epistemic beliefs and approaches to learning science regarding gender and educational level. However, the study failed to discover any difference in participants’ conceptions of teaching in terms of both gender and educational level. In addition to the difference concerning those demographic data, the study also found very noticeable inter-relationship among SEB, ALS and CoT in which SEB played a certain role on guiding ALS and both SEB and ALS were found to be predictive of CoT. Besides, the study found that epistemic beliefs concerning justification of science knowledge plays a critical role in guiding student teachers’ approaches to learning science and in shaping their conceptions towards a constructivist pedagogical belief. Justification and deep learning strategy were found to be ‘catalysts’ for fostering a constructivst conception of teaching. Furthermore, the study also revealed a mixed-motive approach to learning science as well as a perceived strong inclination of the student teachers towards a constructivst teaching style. Based on the findings, the current research contributed to the field with some implications for science teacher education in specific and for science teaching in general.

Existing research looking into pre-service science teachers’ Science Epistemic Beliefs (SEB), Approaches to Learning Science (ALS) and Conceptions of Teaching (CoT) in Vietnam is apparently scarce. In this situation, this preliminary study aimed at sketching a picture of the current views of those three constructs, i.e. SEB, ALS and CoT, of student teachers in Vietnam by conducting a survey in the context of one education university in Danang City – the biggest city in the central region of Vietnam. In specific, this study inquired Vietnamese pre-service science teachers’ views concerning SEB, ALS and CoT to investigate the inter-relationship among those three constructs. Besides, the study was also to identify the differences in participants’ SEB, ALS and CoT in terms of two demographic data types selected as independent variables, namely gender and educational level (sophormores and juniors).

In this study, 328 Vietnamese pre-service science teachers participated in the survey. The study took a quantitative research approach in which a paper-based composite questionnaire (SEB, ALS and CoT scales included into one surveying tool) was adopted from previous studies with an acceptable validity and reliability for assessing personal views concerning SEB, ALS and CoT.

The general findings indicated a difference in Vietnamese pre-service science teachers’ science epistemic beliefs and approaches to learning science regarding gender and educational level. However, the study failed to discover any difference in participants’ conceptions of teaching in terms of both gender and educational level. In addition to the difference concerning those demographic data, the study also found very noticeable inter-relationship among SEB, ALS and CoT in which SEB played a certain role on guiding ALS and both SEB and ALS were found to be predictive of CoT. Besides, the study found that epistemic beliefs concerning justification of science knowledge plays a critical role in guiding student teachers’ approaches to learning science and in shaping their conceptions towards a constructivist pedagogical belief. Justification and deep learning strategy were found to be ‘catalysts’ for fostering a constructivst conception of teaching. Furthermore, the study also revealed a mixed-motive approach to learning science as well as a perceived strong inclination of the student teachers towards a constructivst teaching style. Based on the findings, the current research contributed to the field with some implications for science teacher education in specific and for science teaching in general.

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