Scientific epistemic beliefs, conceptions of learning science and self-efficacy of learning science among high school students

Beliefs about School Learning during Adolescence: Their Contribution to Motivational Beliefs and School Achievement

“…Further, most of the studies have examined the direct effects of beliefs about knowledge and learning on study or learning approaches and only few examined their direct effects on achievement-related motivational beliefs and academic performance (e.g., Cano & Cardelle-Elawar, 2004;Chen & Pajares, 2010;Peterson et al, 2010;Tsai et al, 2011). Thus, the present study aims to offer additional evidence for the direct and indirect associations among the variables under examination in regard to adolescence, a developmental period with important future-related academic challenges.…”

“…Associations with cognitive as well as with motivational processes have been established both with college students and with elementary and secondary school students (e.g., Chen & Pajares, 2010;DeBacker & Crowson, 2006;Hofer & Pintrich, 1997;Muis, 2008;Muis & Duffy, 2014;Schommer, Calvert, Galigrietti, & Bajaj, 1997;Schommer-Aikins, Duell, & Hutter, 2005;Tsai et al, 2011). Within the epistemological tradition, past research has confirmed the predictive value of epistemological beliefs for personal achievement goals (e.g., Bråten & Strømsø, 2004;Chen & Pajares, 2010;DeBacker & Crowson, 2006;Phan, 2009), self-efficacy (e.g., Chen & Pajares, 2010;Tsai, Ho, Liang, & Lin, 2011), school achievement (e.g., Schommer et al, 1997;Schommer-Aikins et al, 2005), and various aspects of self-regulated learning (e.g., Bråten & Strømsø, 2005;Muis & Franco, 2009). In general, the more sophisticated beliefs the person holds about the nature and process of knowledge and learning (i.e., complex, evolving and personally constructed), as opposed to more naïve beliefs (i.e., simple, stable and authority given), the more adaptive the learning patterns are (see also Schommer, 1994;Schommer-Aikins, 2002).…”

“…In their three level model of epistemology, they distinguish three types of socially constructed and context bound epistemic beliefs, namely general, academic and domain-specific. The academic epistemic beliefs constitute the middle level of the model and are considered as amalgamations of the "general epistemic beliefs" which develop in non-academic contexts such as home, work, and peer settings and of the "domain-specific beliefs" which develop in specific instructional contexts that students meet in their school career (e.g., beliefs about learning science, see Chen & Pajares, 2010;Tsai et al, 2011, or The present study focuses on adolescents' beliefs about school learning, that is, academic epistemic beliefs that develop within school and refer to learning which is taught at school. The emphasis on students' beliefs about school learning (instead of learning or knowledge in general or of domain-specific epistemic beliefs) is of particular importance within the educational context.…”

“…The evidence on the interrelationships of epistemic beliefs with motivation and performance comes mostly from studies with university or college students and only few recent studies have attempted to extend their scope in school children and adolescents (e.g., Cano, 2005;Chen & Pajares, 2010;Tsai et al, 2011). Further, most of the studies have examined the direct effects of beliefs about knowledge and learning on study or learning approaches and only few examined their direct effects on achievement-related motivational beliefs and academic performance (e.g., Cano & Cardelle-Elawar, 2004;Chen & Pajares, 2010;Peterson et al, 2010;Tsai et al, 2011).…”

An Analysis of Conceptions of Learning English Among College Students in China

“…A lot of research has been focused on learners' conceptions of learning in the past few decades (e.g., Säljö, 1979;Tsai, 2004;Tsai, Ho, LIANG, & LIN, 2011;Vermunt & van Rijswijk, 1988;Vermunt & Vermetten, 2004). Drawing on the early categorizations of conceptions of learning (e.g., Marshall, Summer, Woolnough, 1999;Marton, Dall'Alba, & Beaty, 1993;Säljö, 1979), Tsai (2004) classified Taiwanese high school students' conceptions of learning in the domain of science (COLS) into seven categories, including "memorizing", "preparing for tests", "calculating and practicing tutorial problems", "increase of knowledge", "applying", "understanding", and "seeing in a new way".…”