Epistemic Beliefs and Their Relation to Multiple-Text Comprehension: A Norwegian Program of Research

Abstract

Nowadays, students are required to use multiple information sources to complete tasks, both in and out of school. The beliefs that students hold about knowledge and knowing, their epistemic beliefs, have been linked to successful integration of information across multiple texts. Framed by literature on epistemic belief research from an educational psychology perspective, this article reviews a recent Norwegian program of research on students' epistemic beliefs. The research has implications for educational research and practice that are discussed.

Adolescents’ epistemic profiles in the service of knowledge revision

“…Similarly, the Bartlett's test of sphericity was significant (χ 2 = 941.70, df = 153, p < .001). The three extracted factors accounted for 44% of the total variance in the measure and were consistent with theory and previous research (Ferguson 2015;Ferguson et al, 2012. The rotated solution showed three factors had satisfactory pattern coefficients with six items that loaded onto each of factors and no item significantly and equally loaded on two or more factors (pattern and structure coefficients can be found in a supplementary appendix).…”

“…Recent theoretical and empirical research presents a trichotomous framework of epistemic justification and shows how this perspective productively explains relations between epistemic cognition and learning. Ferguson, Bråten, and colleagues (Ferguson, 2015;Ferguson, Bråten, & Strømsø, 2012;) describe three positions on epistemic justifications that individuals may take that differ in their focus on what evidence or reasoning is valid to justify a knowledge claim: justification by authority, whereby individuals rely on external authoritative sources (e.g., teachers, textbooks, religious leaders); justification by personal opinion, whereby individuals believe knowledge is justified if it coheres internally with their prior personal opinions and knowledge; and justification by multiple sources, whereby individuals rely on corroboration between multiple sources as a valid way to determine the veracity of knowledge claims.…”

The relationship of (perceived) epistemic cognition to interaction with resources on the internet

“…A common class of research across the epistemic cognition literature has focused on its role in multiple document processing (see reviews by, Bråten, 2008;and, Ferguson, 2014). This sort of research is particularly interesting in the context of information seeking, given the need in such activities to deal with multiple websites (documents) and their potentially conflicting, and related, information.…”

Developing a Text-Integration Task for Investigating and Teaching Interdisciplinarity in Science Teams

“…A body of work in the learning sciences has explored these abilities to comprehend and integrate information from across sources, specifically viewing these behaviours through the lens of epistemic cognition (see, for examples, Barzilai & Eshet-Alkalai, 2015;Bråten, 2008;Bråten et al, 2011;Ferguson, 2014). This construct, epistemic cognition, describes the ways in which people think about the nature of knowledge and knowing, typically described in terms of beliefs regarding the justification for claims, the source of knowledge, its complexity, and certainty (Hofer & Pintrich, 2002).…”

“…This construct, epistemic cognition, describes the ways in which people think about the nature of knowledge and knowing, typically described in terms of beliefs regarding the justification for claims, the source of knowledge, its complexity, and certainty (Hofer & Pintrich, 2002). This work typically asks students to summarise, or develop arguments, based on internet search or sources that are provided (typically of varied provenance), requiring them to integrate and evaluate claims often on socio-scientific topics such as climate change (see particularly, Ferguson, 2014). In this work, students' cognition around the certainty, simplicity, source, and justification of knowledge is seen as a key mediator for how sources are treated and made use of, assessed through knowledge-tests or constructed responses.…”