Knowing, Knowledge and Beliefs: Epistemological Studies across Diverse Cultures

468 Pages·2008·2.05 MB·English

by  Myint Swe Khine

Knowing, Knowledge and Beliefs
Epistemological Studies across Diverse Cultures
Myint Swe Khine
Editor
Knowing, Knowledge
and Beliefs
Epistemological Studies across
Diverse Cultures
Myint Swe Khine
Murdoch University
Perth, Australia
ISBN 978-1-4020-6595-8 e-ISBN 978-1-4020-6596-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007936007
© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
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Preface
What is knowledge? Is knowledge fixed or ever changing? How can we measure
individuals’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing? Educational
p sychologists and researchers have taken keen interest in such questions while
attempting to understand the role of beliefs in the learning process. In recent years
measurement of epistemological beliefs takes an important role in the study of
individuals’ beliefs about knowledge. This book brings together prominent educa-
tors and researchers from around the world to share their experiences in providing
theoretical framework and model building together with contemporary research on
the role of epistemological beliefs in learning.
The book is divided into five parts: Part I Introduction; Part II Conceptual and
Methodological Issues; Part III Empirical Studies on Cultural-Specific Epistemology;
Part IV Perspectives on Domain-Specific Epistemology; and Part V Conclusion.
The introductory chapter in Part I provides a brief overview of personal epistemology
from multiple paradigms and review the examples of research conducted across
c ultures. The chapter also suggests implications of a more c ulturally informed personal
epistemology both for multicultural education and for future research.
The chapters in Part II describe conceptual and methodological issues related
to personal epistemology research. The authors presented topics related to
assessing teachers’ epistemological and ontological worldviews, the evolution of
self- authorship, assessing the multidimensionality of students’ epistemic beliefs
and measurement of epistemological beliefs and learning strategies of elementary
school children.
In Part III empirical studies on cultural-specific epistemology are presented. The
chapters in this part deal with the studies conducted in Canada, USA, Israel,
Cyprus, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.
Perspectives on domain-specific epistemology are described in Part IV. The
concluding chapter in Part V deals with the challenges and future directions for
personal epistemology research in diverse culture.
This book would have been an impossible task without generous and enthusiastic
support of the international academics in this field. Foremost, I would like to thank
Barbara Hofer, Gregory Schraw, Marcia Baxter Magolda, Gale Sinatra, and Marlene
Schommer-Aikins for their contributions despite their busy schedules and heavy work
commitments. I am indebted to all the contributors who have shared their works in
this volume.
v
vi Preface
I owe gratitude to my associates Dr. Chai Ching Sing and Dr. Benjamin Wong
who have provided suggestions and helped me in editorial work. I would also like
to acknowledge Harmen van Paradijs of Springer for taking up this challenging
task.
I hope that this book will be a useful resource in future research on personal
epistemology.
Murdoch University Myint Swe Khine
Perth, Western Australia
Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
About the Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Part I Introduction
1 Personal Epistemology and Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Barbara K. Hofer
Part II Conceptual and Methodological Issues
2 Assessing Teachers’ Epistemological
and Ontological Worldviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Gregory J. Schraw and Lori J. Olafson
3 The Evolution of Self-Authorship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Marcia Baxter Magolda
4 Assessing the Multidimensionality of Students’ Epistemic
Beliefs Across Diverse Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Michelle M. Buehl
5 Measurement of Epistemological Beliefs and Learning
Strategies of Elementary School Children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Barbara Moschner, Andrea Anschuetz, Stephan Wernke,
and Uta Wagener
Part III Empirical Studies on Cultural-specifi c Epistemology
6 University Cultures and Epistemic Beliefs: Examining
Differences Between Two Academic Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Krista R. Muis and Gale M. Sinatra
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viii Contents
7 Personal Epistemology in Elementary Classrooms: A Conceptual
Comparison of Germany and the United States and a Guide
for Future Cross-Cultural Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Florian C. Haerle and Lisa D. Bendixen
8 A Sociocultural Exploration of Epistemological Beliefs. . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Iris Tabak and Michael Weinstock
9 An Exploratory Study About the Role of Epistemological
Beliefs and Dispositions on Learners’ Thinking About
an Ill-defi ned Issue in Solo and Duo
Problem-solving Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Nicos Valanides and Charoula Angeli
10 Family Environment, Epistemological Beliefs,
Learning Strategies, and Academic Performance:
A Path Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Fransico Cano and María Cardelle-Elawar
11 Global Certainty Beliefs and College Major: How Strong
Are Socialization Effects? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Ulrich Trautwein and Oliver Lüdtke
12 Epistemological Beliefs, Learning, and Teaching:
The Hong Kong Cultural Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Kwok-wai Chan
13 The Use of Internet-based Instruction for the Development
of Epistemological Beliefs: A Case Study in Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Chin-Chung Tsai
14 Assessing the Epistemological and Pedagogical Beliefs
Among Pre-service Teachers in Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Chai Ching Sing and Myint Swe Khine
Part IV Perspectives on Domain-Specifi c Epistemology
15 Applying the Theory of an Epistemological Belief System
to the Investigation of Students’ and Professors’
Mathematical Beliefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Marlene Schommer-Aikins
16 Individual Domain-Specifi c Epistemologies: Implications
for Educational Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Betsy Palmer and Rose M. Marra
Contents ix
17 Personal Epistemology, Understanding of Multiple Texts,
and Learning Within Internet Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Ivar Bråten
18 Epistemic Metacognition in the Context of Information
Searching on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Lucia Mason and Angela Boldrin
19 Developing Relational Epistemology Through Relational
Pedagogy: New Ways of Thinking About Personal
Epistemology in Teacher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Joanne Brownlee and Donna Berthelsen
20 Knowledge and Epistemological Beliefs: An Intimate
but Complicate Relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Rainer Bromme, Dorothe Kienhues, and Elmar Stahl
Part V Conclusion
21 Challenges and Future Directions for Personal Epistemology
Research in Diverse Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Benjamin Wong, Myint Swe Khine, and Chai Ching Sing
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
About the Contributors
Andrea Anschuetz studied sociology, education and psychology at the University
of Oldenburg (Germany). She works as a research assistant in the project: The
influence of immediate feedback on subsequent learning in children. In her doctoral
dissertation she examines epistemological beliefs of elementary school children.
Charoula Angeli has BS and MS in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Instructional
Systems Technology from Indiana University, USA. She is presently an Assistant
Professor in Instructional Technology, Department of Education, University of
Cyprus.
Lisa D. Bendixen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational
Psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She received her Ph.D. in
Educational Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1998. Her
research focuses on personal epistemology and how it impacts teaching and learning.
Donna Berthelsen is a senior lecturer in educational and developmental psychol-
ogy in the School of Early Childhood at the Queensland University of Technology.
She has professional qualifications in teaching and psychology. Donna is engaged
in ongoing research projects with her colleague, Joanne Brownlee, that explores the
epistemological beliefs of students and practising teachers in early childhood
education programs and the relationships between the nature of those beliefs
andtheir teaching practice. Donna is also engaged in other national educational and
developmental research projects which are funded by the Australian government
focussed on evaluation of early education intervention programs as well as longitu-
dinal research on family and social influences on children’s development and well-
being at home and school.
Angela Boldrin is a Ph.D. student at the University of Padua, Italy. She graduated
in psychology summa cum laude. Her research interest deals with personal episte-
mology in learning processes, especially in relation to Internet-based instruction.
Ivar Bråten is a professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational
Research at the University of Oslo, Norway. His research focuses on beliefs, learning,
and comprehension, with a special emphasis on the roles that epistemological and
motivational beliefs play in text-based learning and comprehension. He is currently
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