Attitudes of IT teacher candidates towards computer programming and their self-efficacy and opinions regarding to block-based programming

The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards programming, the perceptions of self-efficacy about block-based programming and the opinions of pre-service teachers on the use of educational robots. This research is a quantitative and qualitative research conducted using a mixed research design. The study group of the research consisted of 140 undergraduate students from the universities in Turkey, studying in the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies. The data were collected through the Attitude Scale of Computer Programming Learning, the Self-Efficacy Perception Scale Related to Block-Based Programming and the interview form developed by the researchers. The quantitative data were analyzed by arithmetic mean, standard deviation, pearson r correlation, regression, t-test and ANOVA analysis, and the qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis method and the following results were obtained: the attitudes of pre-service teachers and their perceptions of self-efficacy are above average and interrelated. The pre-service teachers’ perceptions of self-efficacy vary according to grade level. However, their attitudes do not differ according to class level. However, the perceptions of self-efficacy and the attitudes have been found to differ according to the university where they study gender and education. In addition, pre-service teachers’ opinions about educational robots are that educational robots contribute to problem solving and programming skills.