Secondary preservice teachers' epistemic profiles across domains

Mauricio A Herron, Purdue University

Abstract

This study examines the epistemological beliefs 16 secondary preservice teachers in STEM disciplines who were entering a teaching preparation program in a Midwestern university in the United States. The participants were administered an electronic questionnaire composed of 11 open-ended items that examined participants' beliefs in relation to five epistemic themes: The nature of knowledge, the certainty of knowledge, the evaluation/revision of knowledge, the process of knowing, and the interaction between knowledge and society. We used three forms of questions for each theme: (a) Domain general questions asked participants about "knowledge" in general without reference to any specific discipline, (b) Science questions concerned the nature of scientific knowledge, and (c) Mathematics questions concerned the nature of mathematical knowledge. Asking three parallel sets of questions, allowed for a comparison of participants' responses in the domain general as well as in the two domain specific contexts (science and mathematics). Quantitative Content Analysis was used to code participant responses and nonparametric statistics were used to examine patterns and relationships among classes of responses. The results showed that secondary preservice teachers held different epistemic beliefs across domains. However, participants' patterns of responses to domain specific questions were interrelated and more coherent than their responses across domains.

Degree

M.S.Ed.

Advisors

Yadav, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Educational psychology

COinS