Exploring Science through Stories: Investigating Effects on Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Preschoolers’ Scientific Skills and Curiosity

Abstract This study investigates how Story-Based 5E Teacher e-Workshops affect preschool teachers' science education self-efficacy beliefs and their students' scientific skills and curiosity. The research was conducted in kindergartens in İstanbul using a quasi-experimental design with three randomly assigned groups: experimental group 1 (41 teachers/144 children), experimental group 2 (39 teachers/137 children), and the control group (38 teachers/135 children) experimental group 1 received Story-Based 5E Teacher e-Workshops, experimental group 2 only read science stories, and the control group followed the regular curriculum. Three validated scales measured teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and children's scientific process skills and curiosity before and after the 10-week intervention. Data analysis revealed significantly higher post-test scores in teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and children's scientific development in experimental group 1, compared to both experimental group 2 and the control group. experimental group 2 showed only minor improvements, whereas the control group exhibited no significant changes. These findings suggest that story-based 5E model training effectively enhances both teachers' professional competence and students' scientific development in preschool education.