Running head: CHARTING THE COURSE OF CONCEPTUAL CHANGE 1 Charting the Course of Conceptual Change and the Influence of Self-Efficacy

Although self-efficacy has been identified as important for conceptual change, other factors, such as one’s knowledge and interest, are also thought to influence self-efficacy (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2003) and are requisite for developing more complex representations of a domain (Murphy & Alexander, 2002). 84 undergraduate preservice teachers completed measures of domain knowledge, topic interest, and self-efficacy for teaching at three points throughout the semester. Additionally they wrote about their conceptions of the relation between the concepts of reading, comprehension, and learning at each time point. Findings indicate that preservice teachers’ knowledge, interest, and beliefs about reading as a domain are related. Additionally, profiles of preservice teachers emerged that help explain patterns in their conceptualizations across the three time points. These findings highlight the importance of students’ cognitive and motivational changes in relation to learning about reading theory over the course of a semester and what impact these changes have on self-efficacy for teaching reading.