Abstract
Explicit nature of science instruction can stop the typical decline of student epistemological beliefs within an introductory undergraduate astronomy course.
Highlights
Epistemologies may be defined as a “set of views about the nature of knowledge, knowing, and learning [1]”
We sought to answer the question “What is the state of student epistemic beliefs within our introductory astronomy course and can basic course modifications, focused on nature of science (NOS), prevent decay of student epistemologies towards science?” This overarching question branched into a subset of five research questions: 1. How do students’ epistemic beliefs about science change over the course of a semester, as compared to our baseline course?
Arts & Architecture (AA) and Education/Health & Human Development (ED) modified course students no longer see noticeable decreases along axis four, yet University College (UC) students (p 1⁄4 0.08, d 1⁄4 −0.28) seem unaffected and are still of concern. This means that AA and ED students are no longer prominently struggling with either an inability to delineate evidence-based statements from mere opinion, or the thought that all science is set in stone
Summary
Epistemologies may be defined as a “set of views about the nature of knowledge, knowing, and learning [1]”. There are two fields of thought regarding epistemologies. Schommer provided compelling evidence that there exist multiple dimensions of epistemologies and that an individual has a varying degree of sophistication along each dimension, with similar work to follow this philosophy [5,6,7]. These dimensions have included constructs such as the tentativeness of knowledge and the innateness of ability
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