Conceptual change in physics learning and the role of physics-related personal epistemology


Published: Oct 15, 2020
Keywords:
Conceptual change Physics learning Personal epistemology Epistemological beliefs
Χριστίνα Σταθοπούλου
Abstract

The present paper presents a skeletal theoretical model for understanding the role of physics-related personal epistemology in conceptual change in physics learning. It is argued that personal beliefs regarding the nature of knowledge and knowing in physics can function as constraints on the knowledge acquisition process, just like ontological
presuppositions and other beliefs of a motivational and affective character can do. Beliefs about knowledge and knowing can have a direct impact on the kind of new information that is picked up from the physical and social-cultural context and the way it is explained. They can also have an indirect impact on picking up and explaining information, by influencing certain mediating cognitive and metacognitive functions, such as study strategies used to accomplish learning goals and self-regulation of knowledge acquisition. Evidence from a number of studies supporting the theoretical model is presented.

Article Details
  • Section
  • THEORETICAL REVIEWS
Downloads
References
Alexander, P. A. & Sinatra, G. M. (2007). First steps:
Scholars’ promising movements into a nascent
field of inquiry. In S. Vosniadou, A. Baltas & X.
Vamvakoussi (Eds.), Reframing the conceptual
change research in learning and instruction.
Oxford: Elsevier.
Baxter Magolda, M. B. (1992). Knowing and reasoning
in college: Gender-related patterns in students’
intellectual development. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass.
Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Golberger, N. R., &
Tarule, J. M. (1986). Women’s ways of knowing:
The development of self, voice, and mind. New
York: Basic Books.
Buehl, M. M., Alexander, P. A., & Murphy, P. K.
(2002). Beliefs about schooled knowledge:
Domain specific or domain general?
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 415-
Caravita, S. & Hallden, O. (1994). Re-framing the
problem of conceptual change. Learning and
Instruction, 4, 89-111.
Carey, S. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Carey, S. (2000). Science education as conceptual
change. Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology, 21(1), 13-19.
Chi, M. T. H. (1992). Conceptual change within and
across ontological categories: Implications for
learning and discovery in sciences. In R. Giere
(Ed.), Cognitive models of science. Minnesota
Studies in the Philosophy of Science 15,
Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.
Chi, M. T. H., de Leeuw, N., Chiu, M. H., &
LaVancher, C. (1994). Eliciting self-explanations
improves understanding. Cognitive Science, 18,
-477.
Davies, E.A. (2003). Untangling dimensions of middle
school students’ beliefs about scientific
knowledge and science learning. International
Journal of Science Education, 25(4), 439-468.
diSessa, A. A. (1988). Knowledge in pieces. In G.
Forman & P. B. Pufall (Eds.), Constructivism in
the computer age. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
diSessa, A. Α. (1993). Toward an epistemology of
physics. Cognition and Instruction, 10, 105-225.
Dole, J. & Sinatra, G. (1998). Reconceptualizing
change in the cognitive construction of
knowledge. Educational Psychologist, 33, 109-
Driver, R. & Easley, J. (1978). Pupils and paradigms:
A review of literature related to concept
development in adolescent science students.
Studies in Science Education, 5, 61-84.
Entwistle, N. (2007). Conceptions of learning and the
experience of understanding: Thresholds,
contextual influences, and knowledge objects. In
S. Vosniadou, A. Baltas & X. Vamvakoussi (Eds.)
Reframing the conceptual change research in
learning and instruction. Oxford: Elsevier.
Entwistle, N. & Peterson, E. (2003). Conceptions of
learning and knowledge in higher education:
Relationships with study behaviour and influence
of learning environments. Paper prepared for the
second workshop of the scientific network on
Design, Development and Implementation of
Powerful Learning Environments - “Conceptions
of Students that Affect the Power of Powerful
Learning Environments”, Antwerp, Belgium, May
-17 2003.
Entwistle, N., Tait, H., & McCune, V. (2000). Patterns
of response to an approaches to study inventory
Η εννοιολογική αλλαγή στη μάθηση της φυσικής 49
across contrasting groups and contexts.
European Journal of Psychology of Education,
(1), 33-48.
Gregoire, M. (2003). Is it a challenge or a threat? A
dual-process model of teachers’ cognition and
appraisal processes during conceptual change.
Educational Psychology Review, 15(2), 147-179.
Hammer, D. (1996). More than misconceptions:
Multiple perspectives on student knowledge and
reasoning, and an appropriate role for education
research. American Journal of Physics, 64(10),
-1325.
Hammer, D. & Elby, A. (2002). On the form of a
personal epistemology. In B. K. Hofer & P. R.
Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The
psychology of beliefs about knowledge and
knowing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Hofer, B. K. (2000). Dimensionality and disciplinary differences
in personal epistemology. Contemporary
Educational Psychology, 25, 378-405.
Hofer, B.K. (2001). Personal epistemology research:
Implications for learning and teaching.
Educational Psychology Review, 13 (4), 353-383.
Hofer, B. K. (2002). Personal epistemology as a
psychological and educational construct: An
introduction. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.),
Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs
about knowledge and knowing. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hofer, B. K. (2004). Epistemological understanding
as a metacognitive process: Thinking aloud
during online searching. Educational Psycho -
logist, 39(1), 43-55.
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),
-140.
Ioannides, C. & Vosniadou, S. (2002). Exploring the
changing meanings of force: From coherence to
fragmentation. Cognitive Science Quarterly, 2(1),
-61.
Kardash, C. M. & Scholes, R. J. (1996). Effects of
preexisting beliefs, epistemological beliefs and
need for cognition on interpretation of
controversial issues. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 88, 260-271.
King, P. M. & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing reflective
judgement: Understanding and promoting
intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents
and adults. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
King, P. M. & Kitchener, K. S. (2002). The reflective
judgment model: Twenty years of research on
epistemic cognition. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich
(Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology
of beliefs about knowledge and knowing.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kitchener, R. (2002). Folk-epistemology: An introduction.
New Ideas in Psychology, 20, 69-105.
Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Kuhn, T. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions
(2nd edn, enlarged). Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press.
Lakatos, I. (1970). Falsification and the methodology
of scientific research programmes. In I. Lakatos
& A. Musgrave (Eds.), Criticism and the growth of
knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Leach, J., Millar, R., Ryder, J., & Sere, M. G. (2000).
Epistemological understanding in science
learning: The consistency of representations
across contexts. Learning and Instruction, 10,
-527.
Mason, L. (2003). Personal epistemologies and
intentional conceptual change. In G. M. Sinatra &
P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Intentional conceptual
change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
McCloskey, M. (1983). Naive theories of motion. In D.
Gentner & A. L. Stevens (Eds.), Mental models.
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Mol, A., Stathopoulou, C., Kollias, V. P., & Vosniadou,
S. (2003). Gradual learning of science in a CSCL
environment and the quest of epistemologically
sophisticated learners. Proceedings of the 3rd
IEEE International Conference on Advanced
Learning Technologies (ICALT’03).
Murphy, P. K., Alexander, P. A., Greene, J. A., &
Edwards, M. N. (2007). Epistemological threads
in the fabric of conceptual change research. In S.
Vosniadou, A. Baltas & X. Vamvakoussi (Eds.),
Reframing the conceptual change research in
learning and instruction. Oxford: Elsevier.
Novak, J. D. (2002). Meaningful learning: The
essential factor for conceptual change in limited
or inappropriate propositional hierarchies
leading to empowerment of learners. Science
Education, 86(4), 548-571.
Perry, W. C., Jr. (1998). Forms of intellectual and
ethical development in the college years: A
scheme. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (originally
published in 1970. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston).
Pintrich, P. R. (1999). Motivational beliefs as resources
for and constrains on conceptual
change. In W. Schnotz, S. Vosniadou & M. Carretero
(Eds.), New perspectives on conceptual
change. Oxford: Elsevier.
Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Future challenges and
directions for theory and research on personal
epistemologies. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich
(Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology
of beliefs about knowledge and knowing.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pintrich, P. R. & De Groot, E. V. (1990). Motivational
and self-regulated learning components of
classroom academic performance. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 82(1), 33-40.
Pintrich, P. R. & De Groot, E. V. (1994). Classroom
and individual differences in early adolescents’
motivation and self-regulated learning. Journal of
Early Adolescence, 14(2), 139-161.
Pintrich, P. R., Marx, R. W., & Boyle, R. A. (1993).
Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of
motivational beliefs and classroom contextual
factors in the process of conceptual change.
Review of Educational Research, 63(2), 167-199.
Posner, G. J., Strike, K. A., Hewson, P. W., &
Gertzog, W. A. (1982). Accommodation of a
scientific conception. Toward a theory of
conceptual change. Science Education, 66(2),
-227.
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(2), 282-292.
Qian, G. & Pan, J. (2002). A comparison of
epistemological beliefs and learning from
science text between American and Chinese
high school students. In B. K. Hofer & P. R.
Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The
psychology of beliefs about knowledge and
knowing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Reiner, M., Slotta, J. D., Chi, M. T. H., & Resnick, L.
B. (2000). Naive physics reasoning: A
commitment to substance-based conceptions.
Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), 1-34.
Roth, W. M. & Roychoudhury, A. (1994). Physics
students’ epistemologies and views about
knowing and learning. Journal of Research in
Science Teaching, 31(1), 5-30.
Ryan, M. P. (1984). Monitoring text comprehension:
Individual differences in epistemological standards.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(2),
-258.
Schommer, M. (1990). Effects of beliefs about the
nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal
of Educational Psychology, 82, 498-504.
Schommer, M. (1994). An Emerging conceptualization
of epistemological beliefs and their role in
learning. In R. Garner & P.A. Alexander (Eds.)
Beliefs about text and instruction with text (pp. 25-
. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schommer-Aikins, M. (2002). An evolving theoretical
framework for an epistemological belief system.
In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal
epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about
knowledge and knowing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Schommer, M., Crouse, A., & Rhodes, N. (1992).
Epistemological beliefs and mathematical text
comprehension: Believing it is simple does not
make it so. Journal of Educational Psychology,
(4) 435-443.
Sinatra, G. M. (2005). The “warming trend” in
conceptual change research: The legacy of Paul
Pintrich. Educational Psychologist, 40(2), 107-
Sinatra, G. M. & Pintrich, P. R. (2003). The role of
intentions in conceptual change learning. In G.
M. Sinatra & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Intentional
conceptual change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Smith, C. L., Maclin, D., Houghton, C., & Hennessey,
M. G. (2000). Sixth-grade students’ epistemo -
logies of science: The impact of school science
experiences on epistemological development.
Cognition and Instruction, 18(3), 349-422.
Smith, J. P., diSessa, A. A., & Rochelle, J. (1993).
Misconceptions reconceived: A constructivist
analysis of knowledge in transition. The Journal
of Learning Sciences, 3(2), 115-183.
Songer, N. B. & Linn, M. C. (1991). How do students’
views of science influence knowledge integration?
Journal of Research in Science Teaching,
(9), 761-784.
Η εννοιολογική αλλαγή στη μάθηση της φυσικής 51
Spelke, E. S. (1990). Principles of object perception.
Cognitive Science, 14, 29-56.
Stathopoulou, C. & Vosniadou, S. (2007a). Exploring
the relationship between physics-related epistemological
beliefs and physics understanding.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32(3),
-281.
Stathopoulou, C. & Vosniadou, S. (2007b).
Conceptual change in physics and physicsrelated
epistemological beliefs: A relationship
under scrutiny. In S. Vosniadou, A. Baltas & X.
Vamvakoussi (Eds.), Reframing the conceptual
change approach in learning and instruction.
Oxford: Elsevier.
Strike, K. A. & Posner, G. J. (1992). A revisionist
theory of conceptual change. In R. A. Duschl &
R. J. Hamilton (Eds.), Philosophy of Science,
Cognitive Psychology and Educational Theory
and Practice... New York: State University of New
York Press.
Thornton, R. K. & Sokoloff, D. R. (1998). Assessing
student learning of Newton’s laws: The Force
and Motion conceptual evaluation and the
evaluation of active learning laboratory and
lecture curricula. American Journal of Physics,
(4), 338-352.
Wellman, H. M. (1990). The Child’s Theory of Mind.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vosniadou, S. (1994). Capturing and modeling the
process of conceptual change. Learning and
Instruction, 4, 45-69.
Vosniadou, S. (1999). Conceptual change research:
State of the art and future directions. In W.
Schnotz, S. Vosniadou & M. Carretero (Eds.),
New perspectives on conceptual change.
Oxford: Elsevier.
Vosniadou, S. (2002). On the nature of naive physics.
In M. Limon & L. Mason (Eds.), Reconsidering
conceptual change: Issues in theory and practice.
Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Vosniadou, S. (2003). Is intentional learning
necessary for conceptual change? In G. Sinatra
& P. Pintrich (Eds.), Intentional conceptual
change. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Vosniadou, S. (2007). The conceptual change
approach and its reframing. In S. Vosniadou, A
Baltas & X. Vamvakoussi (Eds.), Reframing the
conceptual change approach in learning and
instruction. Oxford: Elsevier.
Vosniadou, S. & Brewer, W. F. (1994). Mental models
of the day/night cycle. Cognitive Science, 18,
-183.