The purpose of this study was to test predictability of environmental moral reasoning patterns of preservice science teachers (PSTs) by their epistemological beliefs and values. Four environmental moral dilemma scenarios that reflect different environmental moral dilemma situations taking place in four outdoor recreation contexts (i.e., hiking, picnicking, fishing, camping) were used to trigger and examine environmental moral reasoning of PSTs. Centers of moral concerns (i.e., ecocentric, anthropocentric, egocentric) and underlying reasons of environmental moral considerations (e.g., aesthetical concerns, justice issues) were used to investigate PSTs' environmental moral reasoning patterns. Data were collected from 1524 PSTs enrolled in six universities located in Central Anatolia region of Türkiye. A path model was proposed to test relationships of PSTs' epistemological beliefs and values to their environmental moral reasoning for each environmental moral dilemma scenario. Results indicated good-fit between study data and the path model tested for each environmental moral reasoning scenario. Variances in environmental moral reasoning scores that were explained by the path models had small to medium effect size values of 0.06 to 0.26. Statistical significance and direction of the tested relationships showed changes depending on the moral dilemma scenario context and focus of environmental moral reasoning. Nevertheless, path analyses consistently revealed positively significant relationships between environmental moral reasoning categories and epistemological beliefs in omniscient authority and self-transcendence and tradition values. Implications for science education policy and practice are discussed.

中文翻译：

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认识论信念和价值观作为职前科学教师环境道德推理的预测因素

本研究的目的是通过其认识论信念和价值观来测试职前科学教师（PST）环境道德推理模式的可预测性。四种环境道德困境场景反映了四种户外休闲环境（即徒步旅行、野餐、钓鱼、露营）中发生的不同环境道德困境情况，用于触发和检验 PST 的环境道德推理。道德关注的中心（即，生态中心、人类中心、自我中心）和环境道德考虑的根本原因（例如，审美关注、正义问题）被用来调查PST的环境道德推理模式。数据收集自土耳其安纳托利亚中部地区六所大学就读的 1524 名 PST。提出了一个路径模型来测试 PST 的认识论信念和价值观与每种环境道德困境场景的环境道德推理的关系。结果表明，研究数据与针对每种环境道德推理场景测试的路径模型之间具有良好的拟合度。由路径模型解释的环境道德推理得分的差异具有 0.06 至 0.26 的小到中等效应大小值。测试关系的统计意义和方向显示出变化，具体取决于道德困境情景背景和环境道德推理的焦点。尽管如此，路径分析始终揭示了环境道德推理类别与全知权威、自我超越和传统价值观的认识论信念之间存在积极的显着关系。讨论了对科学教育政策和实践的影响。