Examining the influences of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations on cognitive processing and conceptual change when learning physics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations in cognitive and metacognitive processing when learning about physics concepts through text. Specifically, we manipulated the representation of physics concepts in texts about Newtonian mechanics and explored how these texts interacted with individuals’ epistemic beliefs to facilitate or constrain learning. Results revealed that when individuals’ epistemic beliefs were consistent with the knowledge representations in their assigned texts, they performed better on various measures of learning (use of processing strategies, text recall, and changes in misconceptions) than when their epistemic beliefs were inconsistent with the knowledge representations. These results have implications for how researchers conceptualize epistemic beliefs and support contemporary views regarding the context sensitivity of individuals’ epistemic beliefs.     

A discursive psychology approach to the study of pre-service teachers’ written reflections about teacher effectiveness

This article reports findings from a discourse analysis, informed by a discursive psychology (DP) perspective, of pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teacher effectiveness as constructed in reflective papers. DP treats beliefs as discursive productions that are occasioned by an interactional task and are made visible through discursive features. Our analysis highlights the discursive features employed by pre-service teachers as they wrote about teacher effectiveness in relation to their field observations. We conclude that in their texts, the pre-service teachers went about constructing identities of knowledgeable and legitimate speakers on teacher effectiveness, particularly as they gradually gained firsthand experience via classroom observations.     

Prediction of learning and comprehension when adolescents read multiple texts: the roles of word-level processing, strategic approach, and reading motivation

Sixty-five Norwegian 10th graders used the software Read&Answer 2.0 (Vidal-Abarca et al., 2011) to read five different texts presenting conflicting views on the controversial scientific issue of sun exposure and health. Participants were administered a multiple-choice topic-knowledge measure before and after reading, a word recognition task, and a reading motivation inventory that included two dimensions: Science reading self-efficacy, focusing on readers’ beliefs about their capabilities to comprehend what they read in science, and science reading task value, focusing on readers’ beliefs about how important, useful, and interesting it is to comprehend science texts. In addition, strategic reading pattern was assessed in terms of the degree of non-linear reading behavior. Multiple regression analysis showed that word recognition skills strongly predicted learning from the texts, as assessed by participants’ increase in topic knowledge. However, when multiple-text comprehension indicated by performance on open-ended short-essay questions was the dependent variable, not only word recognition but also strategic reading pattern and science reading self-efficacy emerged as unique predictors when topic knowledge was controlled for. Science reading task value was not related to performance. This study provides new evidence that new literacy competencies needed in a knowledge society, such as synthesizing or integrating across multiple conflicting sources of information, still largely involve word-level, strategic, and motivational processes that may profitably be targeted through systematic instruction.     

Exploring learners’ beliefs about science reading and scientific epistemic beliefs,and their relations with science text understanding

The main purpose of this study was to explore learners' beliefs about science reading and scientific epistemic beliefs, and how these beliefs were associating with their understanding of science texts. About 400 10th graders were involved in the development and validation of the Beliefs about Science Reading Inventory (BSRI). To find the effects of reader beliefs and epistemic beliefs, a new group of 65 10th grade students whose reader and epistemic beliefs were assessed by the newly developed BSRI and an existing SEB questionnaire were invited to take part in a science reading task. Students' text understanding in terms of concept gain and text interpretations was collected and analyzed. By the correlation analysis, it was found that when students had stronger beliefs about meaning construction based on personal goals and experiences (i.e. transaction beliefs), they produced more thematic and critical interpretations of the content of the test article. The regression analysis suggested that students SEBs could predict concept gain as a result of reading. Moreover, among all beliefs examined in the study, transaction beliefs stood out as the best predictor of overall science-text understanding.     

The differential development of epistemic beliefs in psychology and computer science students: A four-wave longitudinal study

This article analyses the differential development of discipline-specific epistemic beliefs (i.e., beliefs about the nature of knowledge) in computer science and psychology. With regard to computer science, a “hard” discipline, we expected absolute beliefs (knowledge as objective “truths”) to increase over time. In contrast, in the more “soft” discipline of psychology, we expected absolute beliefs to be low and stable, and multiplistic beliefs (knowledge as subjective “opinions”) to follow an inversely U-shaped trajectory. Hypotheses were tested in a three-semester long four-wave study with 226 undergraduates. Data were analysed by multi-group growth modelling for parallel processes. In computer science, absolute beliefs indeed increased over the study period. In psychology, an initial increase in multiplistic beliefs was followed by a steep decrease. We therefore suggest that epistemic “sophistication” should be conceived of as a flexible adaptation of epistemic judgments to the characteristics of specific contexts, and not as a generalized developmental sequence.     

Persuasion online or on paper: a new take on an old issue

Few, if any, studies have examined the persuasion process as it unfolds in the computer environments that are so popular in today’s educational settings. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which students’ knowledge and beliefs and their reactions to the features of the articles would be differentially influenced as a result of reading traditional persuasive texts vs. online computerized persuasive texts. The results revealed that text presentations were effective at significantly modifying both, students’ knowledge and beliefs. However, students in the computerized text condition found the texts significantly more difficult to understand, less interesting, and the authors less credible. Implications for research and practice are forwarded.     

Beliefs about Learning in Children's Understanding of Science Texts

This study examined elementary school children's beliefs about learning and assessed the influences of such beliefs on their understanding of science texts. Eighty-three children, 46 from Grade 4 and 37 from Grade 6, were administered a questionnaire on children's implicit notions of learning. Children were also asked to read a science text and complete several tasks that assessed their understanding of text information. Results indicated that older children were more likely to hold constructivist views of learning, and they also performed better than younger children on the text-processing tasks. As well, children's views of learning were significantly related to depth of text understanding when age effects were controlled. This study extends current research on epistemological beliefs of university and high school students. Implications of children's beliefs about learning and their roles in knowledge construction are discussed. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Are sophisticated students always better? The role of topic-specific personal epistemology in the understanding of multiple expository texts

In a sample of 135 Norwegian education undergraduates, we examined the effects of topic-specific epistemic beliefs concerning the simplicity and source of knowledge on deep-level understanding of multiple expository texts about the same topic—climate change. The results showed that students holding sophisticated simplicity beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as complex, gained better multiple-text understanding than did students holding naïve simplicity beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as simple. However, students holding sophisticated source beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as personal construction, performed poorer than did students holding naïve source beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as transmitted from experts. Moreover, students believing knowledge to be complex and, simultaneously, relying on expert authors were at a particular advantage with respect to multiple-text understanding. Thus, in this complex reading-task context, source beliefs usually located at the sophisticated ends of epistemic belief continuums turned out to be maladaptive, presumably because they distracted from the building of a high-quality representation of author and text meaning.     

Exploring the relations between epistemic beliefs,emotions, and learning from texts

Conflicting claims about important socio-scientific debates are proliferating in contemporary society. It is therefore important to understand the individual characteristics that predict learning from conflicting claims. We explored individuals’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (i.e., epistemic beliefs) and their emotions as potentially interrelated sets of learner characteristics that predict learning in such contexts. Undergraduate university students (N = 282) self-reported their topic-specific epistemic beliefs and were given three conflicting texts about climate change to read. Immediately after each of the three texts, participants self-reported the emotions they experienced. Following reading and self-report, participants wrote summaries of the conflicting texts. Text-mining and human coding were applied to summaries to construct two indices of learning from conflicting texts that reflected which source’s information is privileged in memory. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that epistemic beliefs were consistent in their predictions of emotions, which in turn variously predicted different learning outcomes. In particular, a belief that knowledge is justified by inquiry predicted surprise and curiosity, which at times facilitated learning. In contrast, confusion, predicted by passive reliance on external sources, related to impaired memory of conflicting content. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed for research on the relations between epistemic beliefs, emotions, and learning about controversial topics.     

Mathematics teachers’ beliefs about a new reform in high school geometry in Iran

The geometry textbooks of the new system of secondary education in Iran differed dramatically from the old ones considering the aims, the visions, the content, the approach, and the educational purposes. Four hundred eighty mathematics teachers participated in a nationwide professional development program conducted by the author to facilitate the implementation of the new changes. Based on this program, a research study was designed to investigate the teachers’ beliefs about a new reform in high school geometry as a result of the professional development program. The data of the study were collected through teachers’ reflective writings, project works, group discussions, reflective questionnaires, and oral communications. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon this study and to document mathematics teachers’ beliefs about new changes.     

Pedagogic Hermeneutic Orientations in the Teaching of Jewish Texts

In this study, twelve expert teachers of Jewish Thought in Israeli high schools were observed and interviewed, in order to examine their ideas regarding the proper way to approach and teach Jewish canonical texts. Using qualitative analysis, I identified a central component of these teachers' Pedagogic Content Knowledge and named it their Pedagogic Hermeneutic Orientation (PHO). A teacher's PHO consists of his or her knowledge and beliefs about the way texts should be interpreted in class and about the roles of the teacher and the students in this process. Five different PHOs are described in the article to demonstrate the nature of teachers' orientations. I suggest that instruction and professional development of teachers should be constructed to support teachers in developing a thoughtful PHO. Developing this kind of professional discourse can facilitate the development of common concepts and criteria even if flexible and open to discussion—regarding acceptable practices for instruction of Jewish texts in high schools.     

Epistemic Beliefs and Their Relation to Multiple-Text Comprehension: A Norwegian Program of Research

Nowadays, students are required to use multiple information sources to complete tasks, both in and out of school. The beliefs that students hold about knowledge and knowing – their epistemic beliefs – have been linked to successful integration of information across multiple texts. Framed by literature on epistemic belief research from an educational psychology perspective, this article reviews a recent Norwegian program of research on students' epistemic beliefs. The research has implications for educational research and practice that are discussed.     

Teachers’ misconceptions and questionable practices when using Putonghua 1 as the medium-of-instruction: a case study of Hong Kong

Immediately after the handover of Hong Kong to China, the teaching of Chinese in Putonghua was promulgated by the Hong Kong SAR government as a long-term goal. However, no clear definition and guidance regarding Putonghua instruction has been provided to teachers to facilitate the smooth implementation of this change. A review of the literature indicates that teachers’ beliefs have great value in assisting them to make sense of changes and govern their thoughts and behaviours. However, little is known about how teachers’ beliefs help teachers to understand the transition to a new medium-of-instruction (MOI). Thus, the aim of this case study is to examine how teachers’ beliefs help teachers to conceptualize the Putonghua medium-of-instruction (PMI) and how these beliefs affect their curricular decisions as well as the implementation of PMI. Data were collected from 10 secondary Chinese Language teachers in one school using semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings revealed that since teachers held misconceptions about PMI in the initial phase, the implementation of PMI led to a shift of focus away from Chinese content knowledge. In the second phase, PMI was perceived merely as a code-switching device, and, as a result, only a surface change occurred that appeared unlikely to facilitate effective teaching and deep learning. This paper concludes with the observation that code switching alone is insufficient to achieve a successful transition of MOI if the deeper issue of teachers’ beliefs is neglected.     

Exploring Elementary Pre-service Teachers’ Beliefs About Science Teaching and Learning as Revealed in Their Metaphor Writing

This study examined elementary preservice teachers’ beliefs about the role/image of a science teacher and science teaching and how these beliefs change during an elementary science methods course; this examination was conducted through an analysis of their metaphor writing. Data included personal metaphors and rationale papers for supporting them collected from 106 participants at the start and end of the semester. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method and also quantified for statistical analysis. Results indicate that most participants came to the course with traditional views and developed more constructivist views during the course. However, they tended to keep their traditional views and added new constructivist perspectives into their original belief systems. This study suggests that metaphor writing can be used as both a reflection tool for preservice teachers to clarify and refine their beliefs about science teaching and learning and a diagnostic assessment tool for teacher educators to understand their students for tailoring a methods course accordingly.     

Measuring and exploring the structure of teachers’ educational beliefs

This study explores the structure of French teachers’ educational beliefs. First, instruments to measure these beliefs are adapted and developed. Data is collected through focus group discussions and an online survey (n = 302). Factor analyses reveal a three-factor structure to measure teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning: ‘beliefs about student regulation of learning processes and knowledge construction’, ‘beliefs about teacher regulation of learning processes’, and ‘beliefs about knowledge reproduction’. Furthermore, a two-factor structure to measure teachers’ subject-specific beliefs about French language teaching is found: ‘traditional beliefs about French language teaching’ and ‘constructivist beliefs about French language teaching’. Second, this study explores the relationships between and within teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning and their subject-specific beliefs about French language teaching. Results show two distinct and independent belief structures: a traditional and a constructivist belief structure. Via cluster analyses, two clusters of teachers are found whose beliefs are consistent with these belief structures.     

Designing Curriculum-Based Mathematics Professional Development for Kindergarten Teachers

This study examines the influence of a year-long mathematics professional development program on Kindergarten teachers’ beliefs, content knowledge, instructional practices, and their students’ achievement. The professional development program is grounded in the theoretical construct of learner-centered professional development and focuses on supporting teachers’ integration of standards-based pedagogies aligned with the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. Data analysis included examining 15 Kindergarten teachers’ mathematics content knowledge, their beliefs about mathematics, their enactment of student-centered pedagogies, and student achievement on curriculum-based assessments. Findings indicated that teachers adopted more student-centered pedagogies and embraced more student-centered beliefs about mathematics teaching during their time in the project. Further, Kindergarten teachers also demonstrated gains in their mathematical content knowledge, and those content knowledge gains were linked to gains in student achievement.     

Elementary Students’ Scientific Epistemological Beliefs in Relation to Socio-Economic Status and Gender

This study investigated students’ scientific epistemological beliefs in relation to socio-economic status (SES) and gender. Data were obtained from 1,152 eight grade Turkish elementary school students using Scientific Epistemological Beliefs instrument. Canonical correlation analysis indicated that students with a working mother and educated parents as well as greater number of books at home together with a separate study room are more likely to have tentative views and less likely to have fixed views about science compared to students with unemployed mother, uneducated parents, less books at home, and no separate study room. Generally, results revealed while family SES correlated positively with tentative views, it was negatively associated with fixed views, implying that students from high SES family were more likely to believe that knowledge is uncertain and not handed down by authority compared to students from low SES family. This study, however, failed to indicate any relationship between father work-status, buying daily newspaper and epistemological beliefs. In addition, Multivariate Analysis of Variance indicated that boys more likely to have tentative beliefs compared to girls.