Addressing Challenges to Public Understanding of Science: Epistemic Cognition,Motivated Reasoning,and Conceptual Change

Science is of critical importance to daily life in a knowledge society and has a significant influence on many everyday decisions. As scientific problems increase in their number and complexity, so do the challenges facing the public in understanding these issues. Our objective is to focus on 3 of those challenges: the challenge of reasoning about knowledge and the processes of knowing, the challenge of overcoming biases in that reasoning, and the challenge of overcoming misconceptions. We propose that research in epistemic cognition, motivated reasoning, and conceptual change can help to identify, understand, and address these obstacles for public understanding of science. We explain the contributions of each of these areas in providing insights into the public's understandings and misunderstandings about knowledge, the nature of science, and the content of science. We close with educational recommendations for promoting scientific literacy.     

Promoting Conceptual Understanding with Explicit Epistemic Intervention in Metacognitive Instruction: Interaction Between the Treatment and Epistemic Cognition

Research in Science Education - This study investigated the effect of the metacognitive instruction in which students’ epistemic cognitions were explicitly addressed, on tenth-grade...     

Socialising Epistemic Cognition

We draw on recent accounts of social epistemology to present a novel account of epistemic cognition that is ‘socialised’. In developing this account we foreground the: normative and pragmatic nature of knowledge claims; functional role that ‘to know’ plays when agents say they ‘know x’; the social context in which such claims occur at a macro level, including disciplinary and cultural context; and the communicative context in which such claims occur, the ways in which individuals and small groups express and construct (or co-construct) their knowledge claims. We frame prior research in terms of this new approach to provide an exemplification of its application. Practical implications for research and learning contexts are highlighted, suggesting a re-focussing of analysis on the collective level, and the ways knowledge-standards emerge from group-activity, as a communicative property of that activity.     

Synthesis of Epistemic Cognition

Science & Education -     

The Role of Teacher Epistemic Cognition, Epistemic Beliefs, and Calibration in Instruction

This review examines the literature on teacher epistemic cognition, epistemic beliefs, and calibration to consider the relation between these constructs and instruction that emerged from empirical studies. In considering how this body of literature can enhance understanding of how students become masters of their learning processes, we will briefly review how different theoretical frameworks have conceptualized the relation between epistemic cognition, epistemic beliefs, calibration and metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning. Implications for research include a more nuanced conceptualization of epistemic beliefs and a theoretical integration of these constructs. Implications for practice regard the reciprocal relations between teachers’ knowledge, experience, epistemic cognition, epistemic beliefs, and calibration and their effects on pedagogical practices. The role of teachers’ education and professional development is discussed. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

概念认知和修辞认知在狄更生诗歌中的应用

阐述人们对外在世界的认知是通过概念认知和修辞认知完成的。分析艾米丽·狄更生诗歌中的概念认知和修辞认知,揭示狄更生诗歌的艺术特点和诗歌语言背后的独特认知世界。     

The Importance of Epistemic Cognition in Student-Centred Learning

To infer the sophistication ofepistemic thinking in a sample of undergraduatestudents, 25 participants completed afree-response task in which they were asked togive reasons for their agreement ordisagreement with a small number of beliefsabout the role of tutorials and of tutors ingaining knowledge. Responses were analysedaccording to King and Kitchener's (1994) stagesof reasoning, revealing that the justificationsoffered were either at the stages ofpre-reflective or quasi-reflective thinkingwith none exhibiting reflective thinking. Thefindings have two main pedagogicalimplications: first that good teaching beunderstood not as a set of performance skillswhich may only be opportunistically related tostudents' extant conceptualisations but as thelocus through which students confront their ownepistemic beliefs. A second implication isthat to extend students' reasoning, teachingpractices must focus explicitly on thedifficult issue of what counts as evidence.     

Epistemic Beliefs and Conceptual Understanding in Biotechnology: A Case Study

The purpose of this investigation was to explore students’ epistemic beliefs and conceptual understanding of biotechnology. Epistemic beliefs can influence reasoning, how individuals evaluate information, and informed decision making abilities. These skills are important for an informed citizenry that will participate in debates regarding areas in science such as biotechnology. We report on an in-depth case study analysis of three undergraduate, non-science majors in a biotechnology course designed for non-biochemistry majors. We selected participants who performed above average and below average on the first in-class exam. Data from multiple sources—interviews, exams, and a concept instrument—were used to construct (a) individual profiles and (b) a cross-case analysis of our participants’ conceptual development and epistemic beliefs from two different theoretical perspectives—Women’s Ways of Knowing and the Reflective Judgment Model. Two independent trained researchers coded all case records independently for both theoretical perspectives, with resultant initial Cohen’s kappa values above .715 (substantial agreement), and then reached consensus on the codes. Results indicate that a student with more sophisticated epistemology demonstrated greater conceptual understandings at the end of the course than a student with less sophisticated epistemology, even though the latter performed higher initially. Also a student with a less sophisticated epistemology and low initial conceptual performance does not demonstrate gains in their overall conceptual understanding. Results suggest the need for instructional interventions fostering epistemological development of learners in order to facilitate their conceptual growth.     

Optimizing Conditions for Learning: Situating Refutations in Epistemic Cognition

A refutation text is designed to promote conceptual change by explicitly acknowledging commonly held misconceptions about a topic, directly refuting them, and providing an accurate explanation. In this study, we determined the impact of different types of refutation texts on adolescent readers’ conceptual change learning in science. Specifically, we manipulated the way the correct conception was justified and explained following work in epistemic cognition. Three different types of justification were compared to a control condition: justification by authority, justification by multiple sources, and justification by personal opinion. The findings showed that learning effects were optimized when the correct conceptions were presented in terms of a corroborated consensus among multiple sources.     

Modeling Epistemic and Ontological Cognition: Philosophical Perspectives and Methodological Directions

We propose an integration of aspects of several developmental and systems of beliefs models of personal epistemology. Qualitatively different positions, including realism, dogmatism, skepticism, and rationalism, are characterized according to individuals' beliefs across three dimensions in a model of epistemic and ontological cognition. This model incorporates ideas from philosophical epistemology, including a focus on students' multiple means of justification. Concerns regarding the psychometric qualities of quantitative measures of personal epistemology inform this model and its proposed operationalization. We suggest a means of statistical analysis that can be used to assess the construct and predictive validity of this conceptual model by testing the relations among positions, dimensions, and covariates of interest. Future research directions include investigating how individuals choose among various forms of justification.     

国外教师认知概念演变发展的研究

随着对教师及其教学研究的不断扩展,即从对教师的教学行为、教师心理过程,到教师个人实践知识的储备和发展,再到教师与环境的相互回应,国外教师认知研究领域所借鉴和依据的理论视角亦随之发生转移。从认知心理学、现象学,到社会文化和建构理论,教师认知概念在其中也不断地丰富和发展。引发这些变化的契机是新问题的不断涌现,而这些新问题大多是前期研究结果作用于教师教育领域而产生的。     

概念整合与超常搭配的认知

概念整合理论是在心理空间理论的基础之上发展起来的一种认知语言学理论。超常搭配是指某些合乎大众所接受的语法规则但在词语的组合关系上又突破某些语法规则和搭配习惯的语言现象。概念整合理论对于超常搭配具有一定的阐释能力。     

Explanatory Identities and Conceptual Change

Although mind-brain identity remains controversial, many other identities of ordinary things with scientific ones are well established. For example, air is a mixture of gases, water is H₂O, and fire is rapid oxidation. This paper examines the history of 15 important identifications: air, blood, cloud, earth, electricity, fire, gold, heat, light, lightning, magnetism, salt, star, thunder, and water. This examination yields surprising conclusions about the nature of justification, explanation, and conceptual change.     

Conceptual Change and Wine Expertise

Two studies explore conceptual change in the acquisition of wine expertise. In Experiment 1, tasters described a set of wines. Experts described the wines using more specific features than did intermediates, who, in turn, used more specific features than did novices. Specificity in describing wines was not related to discrimination performance on a psychophysical test. A regression analysis indicated that the features identified by the expert as well as those identified by the nonexpert tasters covaried with grape type, such that wines of the same grape were described more similarly than were wines of different grapes. In Experiment 2, the same tasters sorted the wines into clusters. Experts, unlike nonexperts, tended to sort the wines explicitly by grape type. Moreover, the features of the wines (described by the tasters in Experiment 1) covaried significantly better by the experts' clusters than they did by the nonexperts' clusters. Indeed, the features identified by the nonexperts covaried significantly worse when the wines were clustered by their own sortings than they did when the wines were clustered by actual grape type. It is suggested that the acquisition of wine expertise, a domain that is at once conceptual and perceptual, entails not only a greater differentiation of features but also a restructuring of the explicit schemes of classification.     

Calibration to Task Complexity: The Role of Epistemic Cognition

Abstract

We examined the role of epistemic cognition in calibration to task complexity before and during learning. Sixty-six undergraduate students were presented with two learning tasks—a simple task and a more complex task—in random order. Prior to learning, offline measures of learners’ epistemic beliefs about climate change were taken. An open-ended questionnaire was then used to capture task definitions, goals, and plans. To assess online epistemic cognition and learning strategies used during learning, a think-aloud protocol was employed. Results showed that epistemic beliefs before learning predicted epistemic cognition during learning. Further, results demonstrated that calibration to task complexity before learning was not related to epistemic beliefs but was related to epistemic cognition during learning. These findings suggest that individuals engage in epistemic cognition during learning to better understand the nature of the knowledge to be learned and that this results in better calibration of learning processes to task complexity.     

Expanding the Dimensions of Epistemic Cognition: Arguments From Philosophy and Psychology

Psychological and educational researchers have developed a flourishing research program on epistemological dimensions of cognition (epistemic cognition). Contemporary philosophers investigate many epistemological topics that are highly relevant to this program but that have not featured in research on epistemic cognition. We argue that integrating these topics into psychological models of epistemic cognition is likely to improve the explanatory and predictive power of these models. We thus propose and explicate a philosophically grounded framework for epistemic cognition that includes five components: (a) epistemic aims and epistemic value; (b) the structure of knowledge and other epistemic achievements; (c) the sources and justification of knowledge and other epistemic achievements, and the related epistemic stances; (d) epistemic virtues and vices; and (e) reliable and unreliable processes for achieving epistemic aims. We further argue for a fine-grained, context-specific analysis of cognitions within the five components.     

Constructing Conceptual Change in Consultee-Centered Consultation

A central tenant of consultee-centered consultation is that the consultee is always an active agent in the consultation process, not a passive receiver of transmitted information. Both participants will be constructing new understandings during consultation. The consultant can facilitate consultation by asking questions to illuminate the consultee's current theory of what is causing the consultation predicament. Next, the consultant and consultee might explore how the consultee's theory is inadequate to explain this and other cases. When a new theory is generated, it must be an understandable substitute explanation. It must be an intelligible, coherent, and plausible explanation. Finally, the new conceptualization must be parsimonious and efficacious in working with future clients as well as the current client and problem.     

Facilitating Conceptual Change in Gases Concepts

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of conceptual change oriented instruction (CCOI) over traditionally designed chemistry instruction (TDCI) on overcoming 10th grade students’ misconceptions on gases concepts. In addition, the effect of gender difference on students’ understanding of gases concepts was investigated. The subjects of this study consisted of 74 10th grade students from two chemistry classes. One of the classes was assigned as experimental group and the other group was assigned as control group. The experimental group was instructed with CCOI and the control group was instructed by TDCI. Gases Concept Test (GCT) was administered to both groups as pre- and post-tests to measure the students’ conceptual understanding. The results showed that students in the experimental group got higher average scores from Gases Concept Test. Also, a significant difference was found between the performance of females and that of males in terms of understanding gases concepts in favor of males.