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.     

LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF TEST-WISENESS

Longitudinal studies were conducted to examine test-wiseness (tw) with respect to (a) grade differences, (b) grade by sex interaction, and (c) stability. Included in the tw measure were stem-option, absurd-options, similar-options, and specific-determiners. Ss were students in grades 5 through 11; 539 Ss were observed twice with a 2 year interval between observations.
Results indicated (a) significant increases on tw in four of five cases, (b) no sex by grade interaction, and (c) tw as a stable characteristic over the grade levels studied.     

GRADE LEVEL,SEX, AND SELECTED ASPECTS OF TEST-WISENESS1

Measures of four selected aspects of test-wiseness (TW) were constructed for use in grades 5 through 11, and administered to students in two school systems. In each case the grade effects were significant at the .05 level, with a linear trend indicated. There was no evidence of sex, or sex by grade interaction effects.     

Experiences of Two Problem-oriented Courses in Civil Engineering

Current engineering courses are not structured to develop real problem-solving skills in their students. They rely on a bottom-up approach to learning, where the first three years is spend mostly on theory, with almost no practice at problem definition. Instead, the students spend most of their time solving carefully designed exercises. Real-world problems are not as neatly packaged as these exercises, and, as a consequence, graduate engineers often lack the problem-definition and problem-recognition skills that are essential if the theory they have learned is to be useful to them. On the contrary, a problem-oriented course requires the students to develop those problem recognition skills. It also is intended to develop student-directed learning, and group and communication skills. A problem-oriented approach was used in 1991 in two second-year courses in civil engineering—surveying and computing. The courses were well received by the students, and the average exam result for surveying showed a noticeable improvement, while the average exam result for computing showed a marginal improvement. (There were, however, other encouraging signs in the computing course.) The author believes that the difference in response between the two subjects is due to the difference between working in groups and working individually, and a course change for the computing subject for 1992 is proposed.