South China education majors' epistemological beliefs and their conceptions of the nature of science

Asia-Pacific Education Researcher

Volumn 19, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 111-125

  Chai, Ching Sing ^a   Deng, Feng ^a   Wong, Benjamin ^a   Qian, Yangyi ^b  

^a NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY   (Singapore)

^b SOUTH CHINA NORMAL UNIVERSITY   (China)

Author keywords

College students; Epistemological beliefs; Nature of science

Indexed keywords

EID: 77950652628     PISSN: 01195646     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3860/taper.v19i1.1512     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Arbuckle, J. L. (2006). Amos (Version 7.0) [Computer Program]. Chicago: SPSS.
2. Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R. & Tarule, J. M. (1986). Women's ways of knowing: The development of self, voice and mind. New York: Basic Books.
3. Bernardo, A. B. I. (2008). Exploring epistemological beliefs of bilingual Filipino preservice teachers in the Filipino and English languages. The Journal of Psychology, 142(2), 193-208.
4. Braten, I. & Stromso, H. I. (2005). The relationship between epistemological beliefs, implicit theories of intelligence, and selfregulated learning among Norwegian postsecondary students. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75(4), 539-565.
5. Cavallo, A.M.L., Rozman, M., Blickenstaff, J., & Walker, N. (2003). Learning, reasoning, motivation, and epistemological beliefs. Journal of College Science Teaching, 33, 18-23
6. Chai, C. S. Hong, H.Y. & Teo, T. (2009). Singaporean and Taiwanese pre-service teachers' beliefs and their attitude towards ICT use: A comparative study. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 18(1), 117-128.
7. Chai, C. S., & Khine, M. S. (2008). Assessing the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs among pre-service teachers in Singapore. In M. S. Khine (Ed.). In Knowing, knowledge and beliefs: Epistemological studies across diverse cultures. (pp. 287-299). Netherlands: Springer.
8. Chan, K. W. (2007). Hong Kong teacher education students' epistemological beliefs and their relations with conceptions of learning and learning strategies. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 16 (2), 199-214.
9. Chan, K. W., & Elliott, R.G. (2004). Relational analysis of personal epistemology and conceptions about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 817-831.
10. Clarebout, G., Elen, J., Luyten, L., & Bamps, H. (2001). Assessing epistemological beliefs: Schommer's questionnaire revisited. Educational Research and Evaluation, 7(1), 53-77.
11. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd Ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
12. DeBacker, T. K., Crowson, H. M., Beesley, A. D., Thoma, S. J., & Hestevold, N. L. (2008). The challenge of measuring epistemic beliefs: An analysis of three self-report instruments. The Journal of Experimental Education, 76(3), 281-312.
13. Dogan, N., & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2008). Turkish grade 10 students' and science teachers' conceptions of nature of science: A national study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45(10), 1083-1112.
14. Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivariate data analysis (6th ed.). NJ: Pearson Education.
15. Hatcher, L., & Stepanski, E. J. (1994). A step-by-step approach to using the SAS system for univariate and multivariate statistics. Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
16. Hofer, B. (2000). Dimensionality and disciplinary differences in personal epistemology. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 378-405.
17. Hofer, B. (2008). Personal epistemology and culture. In M. S. Khine (Ed.). Knowing, knowledge and beliefs: Epistemological studies across diverse cultures (pp. 3-24). Amsterdam, Netherland: Springer.
18. Hofer, B. K., & Pintrich, P.R. (1997). The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning. Review of Educational Research, 67(1), 88-140.
19. Hu, J. (2006). [Theory of Knowledge]. Heibei, Beijing: Beijing University Press.
20. Jehng, J., Johnson, S.D. & Anderson, R.C. (1993). Schooling and students' epistemological beliefs about learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 18, 23-35.
21. King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing Reflective Judgement. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
22. Lederman, N. G. (1992). Students' and teachers' conceptions of the nature of science: a review of the research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29(4), 331-359.
23. Lederman, N. G. (2007). Nature of science: Past, present, and future. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 831-879). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate Publishers.
24. Lin, H.-S., Chiu, H.-L., & Chou, C.-Y. (2004). Student understanding of the nature of science and their problem-solving strategies. International Journal of Science Education, 26(1), 101-112.
25. Liu, S.-Y., & Tsai, C.-C. (2008). Differences in the scientific epistemological views of undergraduate students. International Journal of Science Education, 30(8), 1055-1073.
26. Mason, L., & Boscolo, P. (2004). Role of epistemological understanding and interest in interpreting a controversy and in topic-specific belief change. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29(2), 103-128.
27. Mo, Z. S. (1980). The characteristics of Chinese philosophy. Taipei, Taiwan: Xue Sheng Shu Ju.
28. Muis, K.R., Bendixen, L.D., & Haerle, F.C. (2006). Domain-generality and domain-specificity in personal epistemology research: Philosophical and empirical reflections in the development of a theoretical framework. Educational Psychology Review, 18, 3-54.
29. Paulsen, M. B., & Wells, C. T. (1998). Domain differences in the epistemological beliefs of college students. Research in Higher Education, 39(4), 365-384.
30. Perry, W. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
31. Qian, G., & Alvermann, D. (1995). Role of epistemological beliefs and learned helplessness in secondary school students' learning science concepts from text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 282-292.
32. Qian, G. & Pan, J. (2002). A comparison of epistemological beliefs and learning from Science text between American and Chinese high school students. In Hofer, B. K. & Pintrich, P. R. (Eds.). Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing. (pp. 365-386). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
33. Schraw, G., Bendixen, L. D., & Dunkle, M. E. (2002). Development and validation of the Epistemological Beliefs Inventory (EBI). In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 261-275). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
34. Schommer, M. (1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(3), 498-504.
35. Schommer, M. (1998). The influence of age and education on epistemological beliefs. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 551-562.
36. Schommer, M., & Walker, K. (1995). Are epistemological beliefs similar across domains? Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(3), 424-432.
37. Tsai, C.-C. (1998). An analysis of scientific epistemological beliefs and learning orientations of Taiwanese Eighth graders. Science Education, 82, 473-489.
38. Tsai, C.-C., & Liu, S.-Y. (2005). Developing a multi-dimensional instrument for assessing students' epistemological views toward science. International Journal of Science Education, 27(13), 1621-1638.
39. Wei, B., & Thomas, G. P. (2006). An examination of the change of the junior secondary school chemistry curriculum in the P. R. China: In the views of scientific literacy. Research in Science Education, 36, 403-418.
40. Wong A. K., Chan, K-W., &Lai, P-Y. (2009). Revisiting the relationships of epistemological beliefs and conceptions about teaching and learning of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 18(1), 1-19.
41. Yu, T. (1987). A history of Chinese philosophical problems. Taipei, Taiwan: Hui Wen Tang Publishing Co.
42. Youn, I. (2000). The culture specificity of epistemological beliefs about learning. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 87-105.
43. Zhang, L. (1999). A comparison of U.S. and Chinese university students' cognitive development: The cross-cultural applicability of Perry's theory. The Journal of Psychology, 133(4), 425-439.