Personal Epistemological Beliefs Research Articles

Exploring the effect of teacher ontological and epistemic cognition on engagement with professional development

ABSTRACT Personal epistemological beliefs play a key role in teacher engagement with professional learning, so consideration of epistemic cognition is integral to the designing of sustainable professional learning. This qualitative study uses Chinn et al’s (2014) model of epistemic aims, epistemic ideals and reliable epistemic processes (the AIR model) as a theoretical scaffold from which to understand how teachers’ ontological and epistemic cognitions affect their engagement with a professional development focused on mathematics anxiety and metacognitive questioning. To cater for the complex situated nature of epistemic cognition, semi-structured interviews were conducted throughout the programme of teacher learning. Thematic analysis identified common influencers on teacher professional learning whilst highlighting conflicts between conceptions of the nature of mathematics and what they had been taught about mathematics teaching. Findings indicate that teachers engaged most fully with situated, practical learning experiences in collaborative learning spaces as they allowed for greater alignment between professional learning content and personal epistemic beliefs. Recommendations for future professional learning and adaptations to the study’s epistemic research methodology are provided in the light of the findings.

The contribution of personal epistemological beliefs to uptake in in-service professional development: a case-study

ABSTRACT Formal in-service professional development programmes may help novice teachers or those new to a school adapt to targeted teaching approaches in their new workplace. However, the extent to which their practice changes in response to in-service learning may depend on prior beliefs. This longitudinal case study explored in-depth the personal epistemological beliefs of four pre-sessional English language teachers, international and national, in an English-medium university context in Turkey during a year-long, formal in-service teacher education course, and for 6 months after the course. It investigated changes in classroom practice and beliefs about knowledge and knowing, teaching and learning, and professional learning as a result of in-service learning. Interviews, classroom observations and reflective journals underpinned a hermeneutic analysis which compared informants’ beliefs and classroom practice over time using an existing theoretical model. Underlying patterns of change in epistemological beliefs show belief type, depth, and sophistication, as well as context, as major factors in the uptake and sustainability of targeted teaching approaches in this context. In-service educators’ knowledge of a teacher’s epistemological beliefs profile can lead to more effective and sustainable uptake in formal in-service professional learning through differentiated, practice-based interventions.

Epistemology of Teaching Librarians: Examining the Translation of Beliefs to Practice

How do the personal epistemological beliefs of instruction librarians inform their teaching practices? By learning about their personal beliefs about knowledge acquisition, are librarians better equipped to create an environment more conducive to student learning? These questions informed a mixed-methods research study. Using the Approaches to Teaching Inventory, 283 teaching librarians answered 22 questions about their teaching practices and how they believe students learn. We interviewed 12 of these librarians to learn more about their teaching practices and epistemological beliefs. Seven themes emerged as influences on the instructional practices of librarians that ranged from learning biases to classroom tensions.

An Evaluation of Undergraduate South African Physics Students’ Epistemological Beliefs When Solving Physics Problems

Students’ epistemological beliefs are beliefs centred on one’s own learning and knowledge. Such beliefs play a major role in the way one approaches problem solving in physics. The intention of this study is to evaluate such beliefs amongst undergraduate physics students. An analytical tool developed by Hammer has been used as a criterion for measuring such beliefs whilst engaged in physics problem solving. A case study of seven students with varying academic abilities and genders were chosen for this study. Each of these students’ epistemological beliefs were examined through a clinical interview when they were presented with three different problems to be solved. To achieve a more holistic characterisation of the students’ epistemological beliefs, a second person independently, evaluated their beliefs as well. The results reveal that students have personal epistemological beliefs that are different from each other and with respect to each of the problems, they solved.

Can the Study of Students' Epistemological Beliefs and Epistemic Match Help Us to Explore the Disciplinary Nature of Education Studies?

In the United Kingdom, education studies degree courses offer students with a range of career plans both inside and outside the formal education system, a chance to study the foundations of education. The disciplinary nature of education studies has been debated from a variety of theoretical perspectives. This article explores the usefulness of the concept of personal epistemological beliefs in exploring the issue of disciplinarity in education studies and contributing to that debate. An empirical study utilizing measures of personal epistemological beliefs and epistemic match sought to establish whether students on an education studies degree course in the United Kingdom took an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach to applying the disciplines of education studies to their assignments. The results show students apparently alternating between these two approaches and thus highlighting some of the potential of personal epistemological beliefs in exploring the nature of education studies and other similar courses.

Using Epistemological Positions and Orientations to Instruction to Explore School-Based, Agricultural Educators' Perpetual Identities: A Q-Short Study

Mounting empirical evidence suggests the conflation of teachers’ instructional orientations and personal epistemological beliefs helps form the perceptual identity of educators. The current study, therefore, sought to describe in what way Oklahoma agricultural education teachers’ epistemological beliefs and orientations toward instruction combine to form the dominant perceptual identities of school-based, agricultural education (SBAE) instructors. To accomplish this, a Q methodological approach was employed. Findings revealed three key perceptual identities of SBAE instructors: Diligent Educator, Daring Educator, and Devoted Educator. Each perceptual identity stressed the importance of experiential learning. However, positions differed in how they believed experiential learning should be delivered to students. For example, Diligent Educators maintained that learning should involve a well-designed educational plan that stresses hard work. Devoted Educators, however, placed emphasis on nurturing students throughout the learning process. Meanwhile, Daring Educators contend knowledge is more fluid and self-constructed. Using Perry’s (1970) epistemological development scheme and Bowden’s (1990) conception of phenomenographic pedagogy, recommendations for praxis are offered for each perceptual identity.

Impact of Differential-Item-Functioning on the Personal Epistemological Beliefs for Senior High School Students

Abstract. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the expression of items used to examine personal epistemological beliefs could affect the probabilities of response for compared groups and research outcomes. Differential-item-functioning (DIF) analysis on school types and location of school according to the Rasch model was performed in this study. Nonacademically inclined school students (n = 212) and academically inclined school students (n = 197) were selected to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three dimensions of beliefs about knowing and two dimensions of beliefs about learning. The results of the DIF analysis suggested that the items in the dimensions about knowing favor academically inclined students and students from schools located in the northern areas of Taiwan. The items in the learning dimensions favor nonacademically inclined students and students from schools located in the southern areas of Taiwan. The group comparisons were different between the scale that included the DIF items and the scale that excluded the DIF items. The discussion addresses the value of the precise detections for inappropriate items and the effect of the academic achievement on completing the survey.

Is it the teaching or the discipline? Influences of disciplinary epistemology and pedagogy on students adapting study behaviour and epistemological beliefs

This study examined the pace and degree of adaptation of study behaviour and personal epistemological beliefs between school and university through interviews with 110 final-year university students. The study took place in Hong Kong, where the highly competitive school system encourages remembering modelling answers for the public examinations; hence, students appear to hold naive epistemological beliefs on entry to university. Developing more sophisticated beliefs appeared to be a pre- or co- requisite to adopting study behaviour more appropriate for university study. The pace and degree of adaptation varied between disciplines and appeared to be influenced by both the nature of knowledge within a discipline and the type of pedagogy adopted. The influences are discussed in terms of a two-by-two framework, ranging from well-established to contested knowledge, and didactic teaching to active student engagement. Cases are given to illustrate each quadrant as well as progressive development. Perceptions or social constructions of disciplinary differences appear to play a part as there were cases where the pedagogy adopted was inconsistent with the nature of knowledge in a discipline.

ESAP Students’ Comprehension of Multiple Technical Reading Texts: Insights from Personal Epistemological Beliefs

Given the importance associated with multiple-document literacy in the present-day knowledge societies and the dearth of research in English Language Teaching in general and English for Specific/Academic Purposes (ESAP) contexts in particular on multiple-document comprehension and the significance of reader beliefs in this type of comprehension, the present study was carried out with the aim of investigating the relationship between ESAP students’ personal epistemological beliefs and their inferential intratextual and intertextual understanding of multiple texts. To this aim, 64 first-semester midwifery students were selected as the participants of the study. They were required to read four passages on multi-fetal pregnancy which discussed different aspects of this phenomenon. Having filled out the Epistemological Beliefs Inventory, they were tested on the inferential intratextual and intertextual comprehension of the texts. Results of the analyses of the data revealed significant associations between epistemological beliefs and the inferential comprehension of multiple texts. The results also indicated the poorer performance of the participants in intertextual inferential understanding of the texts compared with the intratextual understanding of them. The study concludes with tentative implication of the findings for ESAP reading courses.

Pre-service teachers’ epistemic perspectives about philosophy in the classroom: it is not a bunch of ‘hippie stuff’

Using epistemic perspectives as a theoretical framework, this study investigated Australian pre-service teachers’ perspectives about knowing, knowledge and children’s learning, as they engaged in a semester-long unit on philosophy in the classroom. During the field experience component of the unit, pre-service teachers were required to teach at least one philosophy lesson. Pre-service teachers completed the Personal Epistemological Beliefs Survey at the beginning and end of the unit. They were also interviewed in focus groups at the end of the semester to investigate their views about children’s learning. Paired sample t-tests were used to explore changes in epistemic beliefs over time. Significant differences were found for only some individual items on the survey. However, when interviewed, pre-service teachers indicated that field experiences helped them consider children as competent ‘thinkers’ who were capable of engaging in philosophy in the classroom. They reported predominantly student-centred perspectives of children’s learning, although a process of adjudication (exploring disagreements and evidence for responses) was lacking in these responses.

Epistemic match: a pedagogical concept for understanding how students fit into the chosen subject

Previous studies have suggested that a student’s personal epistemological beliefs can be a predictor of their academic performance. The current research aimed to extend this work by exploring whether the disciplinary epistemological beliefs presented to students in their classes and assessments might mediate the relationship between students’ personal epistemological beliefs and performance. A comparison of a student’s personal epistemological beliefs with the epistemological beliefs presented in their classes and assignments was carried out, establishing the level of ‘epistemic match’ between student and discipline. It was expected that epistemic match would be a predictor of a student’s performance. A total of 362 first year students from eight subject disciplines at a UK university completed a questionnaire measure of personal epistemological beliefs. A total of 38 staff from the same disciplines also completed a questionnaire which was adapted from the original student version to represent a measure of the presented epistemological beliefs in their discipline. The results showed a significant relationship between performance and levels of epistemic match. Closer epistemic match was associated with higher performance. The conclusion is that epistemic match is a reliable predictor of students’ performance in their first year.

Debriefing interviews and coaching conversations: Strategies to promote student reflexivity and action

Without conscious will and engagement in critical reflexivity as a process of growth and learning in research, students remain unaware of their subjective biases and the effect of bias on the inquiry. A qualitative, exploratory, single descriptive case study was used to explore and describe the operationalisation of debriefing interviews and coaching conversations as strategies to promote student reflexivity and action in postgraduate supervision practice. Two female Master of Technology (Somatology) students were purposively selected. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured debriefing interviews, coaching conversations and semi-structured naive sketches. Data analysis followed a thematic coding approach. It was found that the strategies of debriefing interviews and coaching conversations promote self-awareness and methodological awareness, transformation, learning and support, and increase students’ capability to act and react more quickly to research challenges. However, bracketing of personal epistemological beliefs and ethical reasoning remain a challenge.

Resilience and Higher Order Thinking

To appreciate, understand, and tackle chronic global social and environmental problems, greater appreciation of the importance of higher order thinking is required. Such thinking includes personal epistemological beliefs (PEBs), i.e., the beliefs people hold about the nature of knowledge and how something is known. These beliefs have profound implications for the way individuals relate to each other and the world, such as how people understand complex social-ecological systems. Resilience thinking is an approach to environmental stewardship that includes a number of interrelated concepts and has strong foundations in systemic ways of thinking. This paper (1) summarizes a review of educational psychology literature on PEBs, (2) explains why resilience thinking has potential to facilitate development of more sophisticated PEBs, (3) describes an example of a module designed to teach resilience thinking to undergraduate students in ways conducive to influencing PEBs, and (4) discusses a pilot study that evaluates the module's impact. Theoretical and preliminary evidence from the pilot evaluation suggests that resilience thinking which is underpinned by systems thinking has considerable potential to influence the development of more sophisticated PEBs. To be effective, however, careful consideration of how resilience thinking is taught is required. Finding ways to encourage students to take greater responsibility for their own learning and ensuring close alignment between assessment and desired learning outcomes are particularly important.

The first year university experience: using personal epistemology to understand effective learning and teaching in higher education

Personal epistemological beliefs, or beliefs about knowing, provide a way in which to understand learning in a range of educational contexts because they are considered to act as filters for all other knowledge and beliefs. In particular, they provide a useful framework for investigating learning and teaching for first year students in tertiary education, who are typically considered to hold less sophisticated epistemological beliefs. Using semi-structured interviews, this study investigated the nature of beliefs about knowing and learning of 35 first year teacher education and creative writing students at a large metropolitan university in Australia. The interview analysis indicated that a relationship existed between individuals’ core beliefs about knowing and their beliefs about learning. This relationship has implications for the way in which we support first year students’ learning as they transition into university and progress through their courses.

Examining high-school students’ preferences toward learning environments, personal beliefs and concept learning in web-based contexts

The purpose of the study is to explore three kinds of personal affective traits among high-school students and their effects on web-based concept learning. The affective traits include personal preferences about web-based learning environments, personal epistemological beliefs, and beliefs about web-based learning. One hundred 11th graders participated in the study. Three questionnaires were developed to assess these affective characteristics. An online test and the flow-map technique were employed to probe concept achievements that indicated the learning outcome. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, correlation and regression analyses were conducted to present trends and relations among variables. It was found that participants of the study who mostly had not developed sophisticated epistemological beliefs displayed only moderate preferences toward explorative and interactive web-based learning environments, and they seemed to be conservative about the effectiveness of the new type of learning. According to the flow-map technique, the serial form of concept achievements was the main product of concept learning in the explorative web-based environments defined in the study. Regression analyses indicated that while preferences toward inquiry-based instructional designs and outward interactions, and the simple form of personal epistemology predicted concept achievements, beliefs about effectiveness of web-based learning resulted in a negative impact on concept learning.

Epistemological beliefs on teaching and learning: a survey among pre‐service teachers in Singapore

Personal epistemological beliefs influence one’s cognitive and metacognitive operations in a significant way. They also influence how teachers conceptualize teaching. It is therefore essential for teacher educators to understand the epistemological beliefs that pre‐service teachers are holding to foster mature epistemological outlooks that could facilitate educational reforms. This study surveyed 537 Singapore pre‐service teachers’ epistemological beliefs. The results indicate that Singapore pre‐service teachers were fairly homogenous in their beliefs. They place much emphasis on learning effort. Although they seem to be inclined to believe that knowledge is uncertain, they also tend to believe in the experts. Generally, the profiles suggest that it may be necessary for Singapore teacher educators to foster more mature epistemological outlooks among its pre‐service teachers. Les croyances épistémologiques sur l’enseignement et l’apprentissage. Une enquête auprès des futurs enseignants à Singapour Les croyances épistémologies personnelles influencent le fonctionnement cognitif et métacognitif de la personne de façon significative. Chez les professeurs, elles influencent aussi la façon dont les professeurs conçoivent l’enseignement. Il est donc essentiel que les formateurs d’enseignants comprennent les croyances épistémologiques des futurs maîtres, ceci, pour favoriser une vision épistémologique mûrie susceptible de rendre les réformes éducatives plus aisées. La présente étude porte sur les croyances épistémologiques de 537 futurs enseignants de Singapour. Les résultats montrent que les futurs enseignants de Singapour ont des croyances épistémologiques assez homogènes. Ils mettent un fort accent sur l’effort d’apprentissage. Bien qu’ils semblent enclins à croire que la connaissance est incertaine, ils ont aussi tendance à croire les experts. D’une façon générale, les profils relevés amènent à penser qu’il faudrait que les formateurs des maîtres de Singapour suscitent des visions épistémologiques plus mûries chez les futurs professeurs. Der Einfluss erkenntnistheoretischer Überzeugungen auf Lehre und Lernen: Eine Umfrage unter Lehrerstudenten in Singapur Persönliche erkenntnistheoretische Überzeugungen beeinflussen kognitive und metakognitive Operationen auf signifikante Weise. Sie haben auch Einfluss darauf, wie Lehrer ihren Unterricht konzipieren. Es ist deshalb wesentlich, dass Lehrerbildner die erkenntnistheoretischen Überzeugungen von Lehrern in Ausbildung verstehen, um erkenntnistheoretische Weiterentwicklungen zu fördern, festhalten, die Bildungsreformen erleichtern könnten. Diese Studie begutachtete die epistemologischen Überzeugungen von 537 Singapurer ‘Referendaren’. Die Ergebnisse zeigen an, dass diese Singapurer Lehrer in ihren Überzeugungen ziemlich homogen waren. Sie legen viel Wert auf Lernanstrengungen. Trotzdem tendieren sie dazu zu glauben, dass Wissen unsicher ist, aber auch gleichzeitig dazu, an die Experten zu glauben. Im Allgemeinen legen die Profile nahe, dass es für die Singapurer Lehrerbildner notwendig sein kann, die erkenntnistheoretische Weiterentwicklung ihrer auszubildenden Lehrer zu fördern.

Personal epistemology and relational pedagogy in early childhood teacher education programs

Over the last decade, research related to personal epistemological beliefs has offered insight into how to promote effective teaching and learning across educational settings. Personal epistemological beliefs reflect an individual's views about what knowledge is, how knowledge is gained, and the degree of certainty with which knowledge can be held. However, there has been no research that specifically investigates the relationship between such epistemological beliefs and early childhood practice. This paper draws together current research findings on epistemological beliefs and tertiary learning to provide a conceptual framework which can be used in early childhood teacher education programs to provide a basis for investigating early childhood teachers' understanding about their own learning and how they use this knowledge in their practice.

Personal epistemological beliefs and transformational leadership behaviours

Purpose – To review conceptual links between research on personal epistemological beliefs and leadership behaviours associated with the transformational‐transactional leadership model.Design/methodology/approach – Transformational leaders act as facilitators of learning in organisations, and therefore their beliefs, cognitions and behaviours can be explored in the same manner as teachers in classroom settings. Research on both personal epistemological beliefs and the transformational‐transactional leadership model is reviewed and key conceptual links are identified in the areas of underlying beliefs, metacognition and cognition, and implications for training.Findings – The literature review suggests that strong conceptual links exist between mature personal epistemology and beliefs and behaviours associated with transformational leadership. Similarly, conceptual links exist between less mature personal epistemology and beliefs and behaviours associated with transactional leadership.Research limitations/im...

Working with toddlers in child care: Personal epistemologies and practice

SUMMARY In the present study, the personal epistemological beliefs of group leaders in toddler child care programmes are investigated. Epistemological beliefs are beliefs about knowing and learning. It is considered that the quality of these beliefs is influenced by educational experiences. In this study, such beliefs are assumed to be mediating factors in the nature and quality of child care practice. Six caregivers in toddler programmes (children aged 18 months to 3 years) in Australia were videoed within their programmes and subsequently asked to describe their personal epistemological beliefs as well as their beliefs about how children learn. In the interviews, excerpts from the video were presented and the caregivers asked to reflect on their practices. The interview data for each caregiver were analysed to ascertain the nature of the personal epistemological beliefs and the nature of beliefs about children's learning. The manner in which caregivers' reflective responses about their practices observed in the video aligned with caregivers' personal epistemologies and their beliefs about children's learning was also considered. Two caregivers, who held relativistic beliefs, also held strong constructivist perspectives about children's learning that aligned with how they reflected on their practices. The other caregivers evidenced mixed or multiplistic epistemological beliefs. They described learning by children as an active or modelling process. These caregivers' reflections on practice were congruent with their personal epistemologies and beliefs about children's learning in viewing their educative role as a guide or a model for the children. Implications for how the exploration of personal epistemologies about knowing and learning can inform and enhance professional development programmes are discussed.

Teachers’ personal epistemological beliefs about students with disabilities as indicators of effective teaching practices

Teachers’ epistemological beliefs, that is, their beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how it is learned, appear to be highly influential in their classroom practices. To date, the exploration of teachers’ epistemological beliefs has been complicated by philosophical and methodological disputes. A method is presented here for inferring the epistemological beliefs of elementary school general education teachers through their descriptions of their work with students with disabilities. Evidence to support the reliability of this method is also presented. Differences in teacher belief constructs are related to differences in instructional practices – a relationship which holds for instructional interactions with both individual students and the whole class, and which predicts instructional practices for students both with and without disabilities. We therefore speculate that differences in teachers’ beliefs about students with disabilities might be related to their larger epistemological theories about knowledge and learning. In speculating about the source of differences in beliefs and practice, it is notable that the normative school beliefs, that is, the prevailing beliefs in a school about teachers’ roles and responsibilities for students with disabilities, appear to influence the beliefs of individual teachers. The potential for differences in teachers’ beliefs and practices to influence student outcomes is also considered, with some preliminary evidence from student self‐concept data.