Four epistemological belief and two teaching and learning conception dimensions were identified from a survey study of a sample of Hong Kong teacher education students. The epistemological belief dimensions were labeled Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge and Certainty Knowledge. The results on epistemological…

This study examined the learning experience (learning approaches, study orchestrations and epistemological beliefs) of 388 university students. Data analysis revealed two main results. First, the different aspects of students' learning experience were related: learning approaches and epistemological beliefs (two pairs of canonical variates…

It is argued that an epistemic authority would induce greater influence in transmitting knowledge to students when there is a correspondence between the (authoritarian vs. democratic) style of the authority and students' perceptions of their relation to the authority (high vs. low epistemic dependence). In two studies it was predicted, and found,…

Current views in educational psychology suggest that learning involves the awareness of and regulation of knowledge, beliefs, and goals. This suggests that two constructs, (1) epistemological beliefs (beliefs about knowledge) and (2) cognitive dispositions (such as willingness to consider alternative points of view) are likely candidates for…

Focuses on two secondary students' beliefs and the relationships that emerge from the actions that take place in a classroom. Uses an interpretive approach with the two participating countries, Spain and Costa Rica. Reports that students construct their own theories regarding their role at school and learning and teaching mathematics. (Contains 22…

Traces the evolution of college students' assumptions about knowledge and how it is gained, and examines how their judgment can be enhanced through teaching. Summarizes seven stages of reflective judgment, including three stages of prereflective thinking, two stages of quasi-reflective thinking, and two stages of reflective thinking. Suggests ways…

Investigates effects of epistemological beliefs and topic-specific beliefs on undergraduates' (N=40) cognitive and strategic processing of a dual-positional text. Findings reveal that epistemological beliefs about the speed of learning affected the overall number of cognitive processes exhibited, whereas topic-specific beliefs interacted with the…

Studies relationships between teacher epistemology, classroom interactions, and related student epistemologies and identities. Results indicate that classroom discourse, orchestrated by the teacher, likely mediates many of the associations between teacher and student epistemologies documented here. (Contains 36 references and an appendix.) (GCP)

College student pairs learned a complex card game using a scripted set of turns and written explanations, played the game, rated perceptions of and reactions to the learning session and their partner, and completed the Attitudes Toward Thinking and Learning Scale. Significant differences in perceptions of partners and sessions related to…

A student sitting in a class and listening to an instructor talk is experiencing a particular mode of instruction sensed through visual and audio channels. She is aware that she is in the center of a classroom and also in close proximity to other students. Occasionally they gesture to the instructor at the front of the room, who stops talking when…

This research examined the relationship between types of perfectionists and differences in post-adolescent intellectual development. University students completed the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) and the Scale of Adult Intellectual Development (Newman & Martin, 1999). The results revealed significant…

The "APA Educational Psychology Handbook" reflects the broad nature of the field today, with state-of-the-science reviews of the diverse critical theories driving research and practice; in-depth investigation of the range of individual differences and cultural/contextual factors that affect student achievement, motivation, and beliefs;…

Students' perspectives, levels of epistemological understanding, and critical thinking dispositions related to the use of case studies in an educational psychology course. This is the second part of a research project investigating students' perspectives and critical thinking dispositions related to case study pedagogy in an educational psychology…

This article reports a theoretically based study on the model of development of epistemological understanding proposed by Kuhn (2000) [Kuhn, D. (2000). Theory of mind, metacognition, and reasoning: A life-span perspective. In P. Mitchell & K. J. Riggs (Eds.), "Children's reasoning and the mind" (pp. 301-326). Hove, UK: Psychology…

This study investigated conceptions of knowledge and beliefs among 242 Italian and 231 American college students. Perceptions of the nature and interrelation of knowledge and beliefs, and prevalent characterizations and sources of these two constructs were explored by qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Differences emerged between Italian…