Beliefs About Knowledge,Knowing, and Learning: Differences Across Knowledge Types in Physics

The authors examined whether students’ epistemic and learning beliefs varied across different knowledge types in physics. On the basis of various beliefs frameworks, the authors predicted that individuals’ beliefs would vary within a domain across the same content when presented conceptually versus procedurally. Participants were 81 high school students enrolled in an advanced physics course. Students completed a conceptually oriented test and a procedurally oriented test on the same content 1 week apart, and they immediately responded to the Epistemological Beliefs Assessment for Physical Science questionnaire after completion of each test. Results revealed that girls espoused more constructivist beliefs about physics for conceptual knowledge than for procedural knowledge, whereas the opposite was found for boys. Moreover, female students espoused more constructivist beliefs than did male students across both types. These results have important theoretical and methodological implications.