Epistemological Beliefs Of Students Research Articles

Investigation of The Relationship Between Lifelong Learning and Epistemological Beliefs of Associate Degree Students’

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between lifelong learning and epistemological beliefs of associate degree students. In the study, correlational method, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was employed. The population of the study consisted of students studying at a vocational high school of a state university in Turkey and the sample of the study consisted of 360 students selected from the population through convenience sampling. In the study, the “Lifelong Learning Scale” adapted by Engin, Kör and Erbay (2017) and the “Epistemological Beliefs Scale” adapted by Aydın, Selçuk, Çakmak and İlğan (2017) were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, pearson correlation analysis, regression analysis, hierarchical regression and two-way analysis of variance were used for data analysis. As a result of the study, a positive, significant and nearly medium level relationship was found between lifelong learning and epistemological beliefs of associate degree students. In addition, it was found that epistemological beliefs predict students’ lifelong learning by 8.7%. While there was a positive and moderate level relationship between the effort dimension, which is the sub dimension of epistemological beliefs, and lifelong learning, a positive and weak level relationship was obtained between lifelong learning and a single truth sub dimensions of the epistemological beliefs scale. On the other hand, there was almost no relationship between the ability sub dimension and students’ lifelong learning level. In addition, when the epistemological beliefs of the students and independent variables (gender, class, type of education, age, department and department type) were considered as common variables, no statistically significant difference was found in terms of lifelong learning level of the students.

Is Distance Education Fun? The Implications of Undergraduates’ Epistemological Beliefs for Improving Their Engagement and Satisfaction with Online Learning

The epistemological beliefs of students are an important area for higher education research. This paper firstly reports on a research review concerning the impact of epistemological beliefs on academic outcomes. This review indicates that students’ epistemological beliefs are an influence on their engagement with learning and academic success, and that educators should consider them in developing learning experiences. This issue became particularly pertinent in the context of a global pandemic that necessitated an international trend in moving to online distance education, where student disengagement is more likely to occur. However, research into distance education students’ epistemological beliefs emerged as an under-researched field. Consequently, an empirical questionnaire study was conducted with data collected from 550 distance education students. A principal component analysis indicated that particular epistemological beliefs were significantly associated with students’ enjoyment of studying online. Their beliefs regarding the role of fun in online learning materials and activities are discussed, and the usefulness of considering fun and epistemological beliefs as factors within distance learning in higher education is highlighted. Keywords: epistemological beliefs, higher education, fun, online learning, academic success

Hemşirelik Lisans Öğrencilerinin Epistemolojik İnançlarını Etkileyen Faktörler: Tanımlayıcı Kesitsel Çalışma

Objective: This research aims to determine the epistemological beliefs of nursing undergraduate students and examine the affecting factors. Material and Methods: This study uses a descriptive cross-sectional design. The study sample consisted of 621 students receiving education in the 2018-2019 academic year. The 'personal information form', consisting of 10 questions developed by the researchers based on the literature, and the 'Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire' were used to collect the research data. The data were analyzed through the 'SPSS 20.0' using descriptive statistics of the characteristics and epistemological beliefs of the participants. Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection analysis was used to determine the affecting factors. Results: In the epistemological belief sub-dimensions, the belief that learning depends on effort was 63.47±16.17, the belief that it depends on ability was 22.00±8.49, and the belief in the existence of a single truth was 28.28±8.01. It has been determined that students' epistemological beliefs are affected by gender, where they live, and academic success (p<0.05). Conclusion: The epistemological beliefs can severely impact nursing students' academic behavior; therefore, the epistemological beliefs of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds should be challenged and improved. The findings from this study can contribute to developing strategies for invisible belief barriers that lead students to fail in increasing the quality of care by using accurate and reliable information.

An Investigation of Pakistani University Students’ Socioeconomic Classes, Gender and Dimensions in Epistemological Beliefs: Dependencies and Interlinks probed by Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Epistemological beliefs impact all aspects of students’ academic and learning behaviours. The different dimensions of epistemological beliefs comprise structure, source, certainty, ability to learns and speed to learn. The students’ naive and inadequate epistemological beliefs can have negative impacts on their regulation of learning, self-efficacy, interest in study, academic performance and persistence in studies. Likewise, the socioeconomic background can explain various differences in students’ beliefs. Epistemological beliefs have social and cultural underpinnings as well. For these reasons, the researchers examined the impact of university students’ socioeconomic classes on their epistemological beliefs. In survey research design, the data were collected from university students in an online survey. The structural equation modeling approach was chosen to detect significant regression paths in the model. The lower and upper lower socioeconomic classes were found to have significant impact on students’ epistemological beliefs. The variable gender did not appear to make significant contribution to students’ epistemological beliefs. The naive beliefs can severely impact university students’ academic behaviour, therefore epistemological beliefs of students from lower and upper lower socioeconomic backgrounds should be challenged and improved.

Investigation of Relationships between Self Efficacy and Scientific Epistemological Beliefs of Students in Physical Education and Sports

Investigation of Relationships between Self Efficacy and Scientific Epistemological Beliefs of Students in Physical Education and Sports

An Investigation to Determine of the Tourism Students Epistemological Beliefs in Turkey

An Investigation to Determine of the Tourism Students Epistemological Beliefs in Turkey

Investigation of Gifted Students Epistemological Beliefs, Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Use of Metacognition

Investigation of Gifted Students Epistemological Beliefs, Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Use of Metacognition

Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations

Explicit nature of science instruction can stop the typical decline of student epistemological beliefs within an introductory undergraduate astronomy course.

Epistemological dimensions on screen: The role of television presentations in changing conceptions about the nature of knowledge and knowing

AbstractIn (in)formal learning scenarios, individuals should develop epistemological beliefs (i.e., individual conceptions about the nature of knowledge and knowing) that are advantageous for understanding everyday science- and health-related information. To date, researchers measuring how to foster students’ discipline-specific epistemological beliefs have often tested researcher-designed texts in short-term interventions. Applying this logic to audio-visual stimuli, television clips might also affect (e.g., change) the epistemological beliefs of students. To test this assumption, three different television stimuli on the subject of Alzheimer’s disease with varying levels depicting the presented knowledge (as more advantageous, moderate, or less advantageous) were therefore selected by means of a content analysis, and their effects tested on a sample of 72 students using a pre-/post-test questionnaire. The results showed some partial support for the assumption that the epistemological beliefs of participants could become less advantageous when they are exposed to television clips depicting knowledge as moderate or less advantageous.

Increasing Student Metacognition and Learning through Classroom-Based Learning Communities and Self-Assessment.

Student overconfidence challenges success in introductory biology. This study examined the impact of classroom learning communities and self-assessment on student metacognition and subsequent impact on student epistemological beliefs, behaviors, and learning. Students wrote weekly self-assessments reflecting on the process of learning and received individual feedback. Students completed a learning strategies inventory focused on metacognition and study behaviors at the beginning and end of the semester and a Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG) at the end of the semester. Results indicated significant changes in both metacognition and study behaviors over the course of the semester, with a positive impact on learning as determined by broad and singular measures. Self-assessments and SALG data demonstrated a change in student beliefs and behaviors. Taken together, these findings argue that classroom learning communities and self-assessment can increase student metacognition and change student epistemological beliefs and behaviors.

Changing Students’ Epistemological Beliefs and Understanding of Basic Concepts on Electric Circuits

The encouragement of more mature epistemological beliefs is important to student achievement. This study is about epistemological beliefs of students who are enrolled in introductory electricity, magnetism and waves and their understanding of the basic concepts of electric circuits. The students were divided into two groups – one with orientation and one without orientation. To determine the epistemological beliefs of students, the author utilized the Maryland Physics Expectations Survey instrument or (MPEX). The author also utilized Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuit Concepts Test (DIRECT) to establish the conceptual understanding of students and their misconceptions. To find out the changes in the epistemological beliefs and understanding of students on basic concepts of electric circuits, the pretest-posttest method was employed in the study. Results showed that the level of understanding among students with orientation was more improved than the group without orientation. While the result showed a decline in students’ over-all epistemological beliefs, slight improvements in some dimensions were seen with different dimensions improved or became worse for the two groups. It further showed that repeatedly giving orientation of experts’ epistemological beliefs helped students develop more mature epistemological beliefs that may lead to better learning outcomes. Keywords: electricity, learning, magnetism, orientation, pretest-posttest

Student's Epistemological Beliefs and the Perception about University Professor. A Study with Science Students

In this work we analyse the university professors ratings and their epistemological beliefs. We sampled 133 students from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) who are studying Health Sciences. For the study we used the following questionnaires: Characteristics of University Teaching Quality from the students point of view (De- Juanas) and Schommer Epistemological Questionnaire (Schommer). The results show that gender has no influence on the perception of students about teachers or epistemological beliefs. We found relationships between students’ beliefs about knowledge and its valoration on a number of teaching work dimensions

Epistemological beliefs and the Self-efficacy Scale in nursing students

Epistemological beliefs in their most general form define an individual's subjective beliefs about what knowledge is and how knowing and learning occur. To investigate epistemological beliefs and the Self-efficacy Scale in nursing students. Prospective survey study. University School of Nursing. Nursing students. Outcome parameters included Nurses' Descriptive Characteristics Data Form, Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire and Self-efficacy Scale. As for the subscales of epistemological beliefs, Effort Subscale was 38.89 ± 11.62, Ability Subscale was 24.02 ± 6.19 and Unchanging Truth Subscale was 30.65 ± 5.74. Total score of the self-efficacy subscales was 74.39 ± 13.59. It has been determined that the majority (60.8%) of nursing students have chosen the nursing profession willingly, 82.8% of them like the nursing profession and 59.8% of students have a good perception of their own academic achievements. Understanding student's epistemological beliefs, trying to improve them and creating suitable learning environments for the development of self-efficacy should be the aim of an education that values individual differences.

The Comparison of Students Epistemological Beliefs Based on Gender Discipline and Academic Levels

The purpose of this study is the comparison of students epistemological beliefs based on gender, discipline and academic levels. Statistical Population included all students of Islamic Azad University that were selected by multi stage cluster sampling. Research instrument was Schommer epistemological beliefs questionnaire. The results showed that students of different disciplines have significant differences in epistemological beliefs of simple knowledge and certain knowledge, but there is no difference in other dimensions. The comparison of students epistemological beliefs based on academic levels also showed that other than simple knowledge and omniscient authority, other dimensions have significant differences in academic levels. The comparison of girls and boys epistemological beliefs showed that girls believe in certain knowledge more than boys but It was seen no difference in other dimensions.

Large-scale survey of Chinese precollege students’ epistemological beliefs about physics: A progression or a regression?

This paper reports a cross-grade comparative study of Chinese precollege students' epistemological beliefs about physics by using the Colorado Learning Attitudes Survey about Sciences (CLASS). Our students of interest are middle and high schoolers taking traditional lecture-based physics as a mandatory science course each year from the 8th grade to the 12th grade in China. The original CLASS was translated into Mandarin through a rigorous transadaption process, and then it was administered as a pencil-and-paper in-class survey to a total of 1318 students across all the five grade levels (8--12). Our results showed that although in general student epistemological beliefs became less expertlike after receiving more years of traditional instruction (a trend consistent with what was reported in the previous literature), the cross-grade change was not a monotonous decrease. Instead, students at grades 9 and 12 showed a slight positive shift in their beliefs measured by CLASS. Particularly, when compared to the 8th graders, students at the 9th grade demonstrated a significant increase in their views about the conceptual nature of physics and problem-solving sophistication. We hypothesize that both pedagogical and nonpedagogical factors may have contributed to these positive changes. Our results cast light on the complex nature of the relationship between formal instruction and student epistemological beliefs.

Epistemological beliefs of apprentices

Whereas the epistemological beliefs of learners of general subjects has been the focus of many studies in the past, so far, little is known about the beliefs of apprentices on knowledge and the acquiring of knowledge. The present study analysed the first level of epistemological beliefs of students in industrial and technical professions and their domain specificity. By means of an exploratory factor analysis, the five knowledge-related dimensions certainty of knowledge, structure of knowledge, application of knowledge, knowledge reasoning and source of knowledge were proven empirically for the surveyed apprentices (n = 1002). The results of the study describe the level of epistemological beliefs of students and verify both the domain specific differences between the vocational fields of civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering and the differences within those occupations.

A pilot study of the epistemological beliefs of students in industrial-technical fields

An investigation of the epistemological beliefs of apprentices in the commercial engineering sector is of interest for vocational training, both from the point of view of optimising vocational didactic processes as well as in terms of communicating suitable knowledge based beliefs about principles and performance in the commercial engineering field. This article reports on a seminal study, in which 50 apprentices in the occupational fields: construction, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering were interviewed about their knowledge-related beliefs. The results include explorative data and highlight difficulties encountered during the study.

Teacher education student's epistemological beliefs and their conceptions about teaching and learning

The purpose of this study is to adapt the teaching-learning approaches questionnaire in to Turkish and determine the relationship between teacher education students’ espistemological beliefs and their aproaches to teaching-learning. The results, based on 341 student-teachers, indicated that the factor sturucture is consistent with the model. Further analyses indicated that student teacher views differ based on gender, department, class-level. Finally, relationships were found among epistemological beliefs (Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort, Learning Process/Expert Knowledge, Certainty Knowledge) and approaches to teaching and learning (Constructivist Conception, Traditional Conception).

Science Literacy for All Students: Language, Culture, and Knowledge about Nature and Naturally Occurring Events

It is important that the first, native, home, or mother tongue language (L1), cultural and personal beliefs, ontological assumptions, and epistemological beliefs of students be explicitly considered in teaching and learning environments where a different language of instruction (L2) and an English-dominated scientific enterprise (L3) are commonplace. Teaching in today’s multicultural classrooms in most countries requires understanding of the three-language issue. Research inquiries into language, literacy, and science issues must consider the values, beliefs, and practices and the traditional knowledge about nature and naturally occurring events embedded in language and culture. This introductory piece provides a reference frame for the roles of the nature of western science, language, and culture for these considerations in an attempt to produce insights for culturally sensitive curricula and effective constructivist teaching. Some authors will question the explicit and implicit values of western science as outlined here, which is the central purpose of this special issue. Cultural restoration, environmental literacy to survive, and other priorities are competing goals with acculturation into western science discourse communities for some peoples.

Approaches to case analyses in synchronous and asynchronous environments

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools can be used to integrate time-intensive tasks, such as case study analyses, more easily into formal learning environments. How students talk together online in CMC environments is an area that has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This paper extends findings from a previous study by comparing two groups of preservice teachers analyzing cases in a synchronous and asynchronous environment. A case study and computer-mediated discourse analysis approach was taken to make sense of the discussion transcripts and student reflections. Booth and Hulten’s (2003) taxonomy of learning contributions is used as an analysis framework. Students made more participatory moves to establish presence in asynchronous environments and more interactive moves in synchronous environments. Reflective contributions were made in both environments, with few learning moves made in either. Students participated asymmetrically in both modes. The interplay between types of contributions, affordances of each mode, student preferences and student epistemological beliefs is explored, with implications for the design and analysis of case discussion tasks in CMC environments.