Understanding students' practical epistemologies and their influence on learning through inquiry

Sandoval, William A.

doi:10.1002/sce.20065

Cited by 585 publications

(533 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Given the centrality of scientific investigation to the epistemology of science (not to mention to the U.S. science education standards), we do not see the student time devoted to attaining and consolidating this strategic and metastrategic understanding as needing to be minimized. Indeed, Klahr and Nigam's adoption of the experimental psychologist's focus on efficiency of instruction departs significantly from the perspectives of those in the field of science education concerned with the teaching of science process skills (Duschl & Grandy, 2005;Metz, 2004;Reiser, 2004;Sandoval, 2005: White & Frederiksen, 2005.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct instruction vs. discovery: The long view

2007

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D. Klahr and M. Nigam (2004) make a case for the superiority of direct instruction over discovery learning in students' mastery of the control-of-variables strategy central to the scientific method. In the present work, we examine acquisition of this strategy among students of the same age as those studied by Klahr and Nigam, as well as follow central features of their design in directly comparing the two methods. In contrast to their design, however, we follow progress over an extended time period and a range of equivalent tasks. Three groups of 15 fourth-grade students, of diverse socioeconomic background, were compared. One group engaged in 12 sessions over 10 weeks working on problems that required the control-of-variables strategy for effective solution. Another group engaged in the same activity, preceded by a session involving direct instruction on the controlof-variables strategy. A third group received only the initial direct instruction, without subsequent engagement and practice. In this longer term framework, direct instruction appears to be neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for robust acquisition or for maintenance over time. The patterns of attainment observed here point instead to a gradual and extended process of acquisition and consolidation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct instruction vs. discovery: The long view

2007

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“…Sandoval (2005) argues that even when learners practice a form of inquiry that resembles the science that professionals practice, their "expressed epistemological beliefs seem hopelessly naïve" (p. 635). Chinn and Malhortra (2002) argue that the inquiry that occurs in schools is epistemologically antithetical to the processes employed by research scientists, and that schools do not have the resources and time to reproduce authentic scientific inquiry.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of the differences between the authentic research of the university scientists and the K-12 school science of the classroom teachers (Chinn & Malhotra, 2002;Sandoval, 2005), the goals of science teaching and the usual characteristics of the instruction are not always the same (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2002;Lave, 1988;Magnusson, Krajcik, & Borko, 1999). For example, the NRC defines inquiry in two ways: (1) "The diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work" (NRC, 1996a, p. 23) and (2) "The activities of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world" (NRC, 1996a, p. 23).…”

Section: Two Continuamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the NRC defines inquiry in two ways: (1) "The diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work" (NRC, 1996a, p. 23) and (2) "The activities of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world" (NRC, 1996a, p. 23). The first definition of inquiry is an epistemological perspective that focuses on the process of doing science (Sandoval, 2005;Schwab & Brandwein, 1962). The second definition of inquiry, often referred to as "inquiry-based instruction" (Colburn, 2003, p. 19), is an instructional perspective, which focuses on organizing activity in the classroom (Sandoval, 2005, p. 636).…”

Section: Two Continuamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scientists' teaching orientations in the context of teacher professional development

Schuster

Carlsen

2008

Science Education

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During the past decade science educators have taken steps to identify seminal structures and approaches of science teacher professional development. This literature, which is increasingly informing how and in which contexts professional developers design and implement programs, states that scientists' divergent research interests and knowledge about K-12 science teachers often limit their involvement in these programs. Conversely, concerns persist that there is very little empirical evidence to support these programmatic recommendations made by the science education literature. This embedded case study was bounded by the contextual similarities between seven professional development workshops with the goal of examining the relationship between scientists' views of teachers as professionals and the pedagogical orientations that the scientists used within these professional development contexts. Multiple methods were employed including systematic classroom observation by nine trained observers, as well as analysis of course materials, interviews, and questionnaires. Altogether, the teacher comments and observation data paint a picture of how the instructors implemented specific pedagogical orientations. Participants appear to have realistic views about the practical roles that research scientists can play in professional Correspondence to: Dwight A. Schuster;

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“…The focus of epistemology is summarized in the questions of Sandoval [10] and Duschl and Osborne [11]: What exactly do we know? How do we know what we know?…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectives a Personal Scientific Epistemomentioning

confidence: 99%

Stimulated recall interviews for describing pragmatic epistemology

Shubert

Meredith

2015

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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Students' epistemologies affect how and what they learn: do they believe physics is a list of equations, or a coherent and sensible description of the physical world? In order to study these epistemologies as part of curricular assessment, we adopt the resources framework, which posits that students have many productive epistemological resources that can be brought to bear as they learn physics. In previous studies, these epistemologies have been either inferred from behavior in learning contexts or probed through surveys or interviews outside of the learning context. We argue that stimulated recall interviews provide a contextually and interpretively valid method to access students' epistemologies that complement existing methods. We develop a stimulated recall interview methodology to assess a curricular intervention and find evidence that epistemological resources aptly describe student epistemologies.

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Understanding students' practical epistemologies and their influence on learning through inquiry

Cited by 585 publications

References 74 publications

Direct instruction vs. discovery: The long view

Direct instruction vs. discovery: The long view

Scientists' teaching orientations in the context of teacher professional development

Stimulated recall interviews for describing pragmatic epistemology

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