Personal Epistemology and Teacher Education

Jo Brownlee, Gregory Schraw, Donna Berthelsen, Jo Brownlee, Gregory Schraw, Donna Berthelsen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136656590
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Personal Epistemology and Teacher Education, edited by Joanne Brownlee, Gregg Schraw and Donna Berthelsen, provides an international perspective on teachers' personal epistemology, or beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing. Research from The Netherlands, Cyprus, Australia, United States, Canada, Norway, and Taiwan is presented to provide diverse viewpoints on personal epistemology for early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary teaching contexts.

The text provides a platform for cutting-edge theory and research about how personal epistemology can be applied to the context of teacher education, thereby making explicit the connection between personal epistemology and teaching and students' learning outcomes.

Topics include:

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• Cultural differences in teacher epistemology and the impact on students' learning

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• Teachers' epistemological beliefs and inclusion

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• Teachers' epistemology and reading lessons, citizenship education, and teaching science

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• Epistemology in a social context

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• Teachers' epistemological beliefs and student autonomy

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• Teacher education and analysis of preservice and practicing teachers

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• Implications of teachers' epistemological beliefs

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• Connections to future practice

Teacher education and teacher behaviours are fore-grounded across the topics, with an emphasis on the origin and composition of teachers' epistemological beliefs and how universities motivate change through formal teacher education. Teaching behaviours are discussed in relation to how teachers' beliefs are related to the curricular and pedagogical choices that they make in their classrooms, assessment of learning outcomes, and classroom management practices.

1 Personal Epistemology and Teacher Education

An Emerging Field of Research

Jo Brownlee, Gregory Schraw, and Donna Berthelsen

Abstract

A growing body of personal epistemology research shows that personal epistemologies influence student learning, particularly in academic contexts. However, we know little about how personal epistemologies relate to teaching, and even less about teacher education. This introductory chapter sets the stage for this book which brings together a range of international researchers in the field of personal epistemology, teaching, and teacher education. This introductory chapter explores personal epistemology as a construct in the field of teaching and teacher education. In particular, it focuses on teacher education as one contextual influence on personal epistemologies by exploring the nature of teachers’ personal epistemologies, teachers’ personal epistemologies and learning, teachers’ personal epistemologies and teaching, and changing personal epistemology in teacher education programs.

Introduction

Our changing, complex world has necessitated an evolution in how we think about knowledge, knowing, and the nature of teaching. Social constructivist theories in teaching and teacher education are now considered effective ways to theorize teaching and learning. This means that teachers are expected to facilitate student-centered learning by helping students to construct knowledge in social contexts; engage in higher order thinking rather than reproducing knowledge; address real world ill-structured problems; and engage in collaborative learning (Elen & Clarebout, 2001; Yang, Chang, & Hsu, 2008). The current focus on learners as active agents in their own learning has emerged because we now have a better understanding of how teaching and learning take place in social contexts and how knowledge construction is mediated by tools of technology (Windschitl, 2002).

Even though social constructivist approaches to teaching are advocated as good practice, many teachers are challenged by these approaches to teaching (Rosenfield & Rosenfield, 2006) and traditional, teacher-centered approaches often remain the default teaching practice (see e.g., Windschitl, 2002; Yang, Chang, & Hsu, 2008). This is hardly surprising if we consider that Western education contexts, in general, reflect objectivist epistemologies in which teaching and learning are conceived of as transmission and reception of knowledge respectively (Windschitl, 2002). Whereas it might be agreed that teachers need to engage in constructivist teaching practices, what is also important is that they have beliefs that support these approaches to teaching (Windschitl, 2002). We argue that a specific type of teacher belief is of interest here. These are the beliefs teachers hold about the nature of knowledge and knowing which are referred to as personal epistemology.

Theory and research related to personal epistemology is one way in which we can better understand teaching and learning (Kang, 2008), in particular the current focus on social constructivist approaches. Much of the personal epistemology research to date has taken place in academic contexts (Schraw & Sinatra, 2004) and there is a robust body of research that shows how personal epistemologies influence student learning. However, very little research has investigated the relationship between personal epistemologies and teaching (Kang, 2008), and even less in the specific field of teacher education. This book brings together a range of international researchers in the field of personal epistemology, teaching, and teacher education, with a view to addressing this gap in the research.

The gap seems to be evident in the area of personal epistemologies and teaching practice at all levels—early years, elementary, secondary, and tertiary teaching with research into teacher education even more limited (Feucht, 2009). Recently Hofer (2010) expressed concern that we still lack research evidence in the area of personal epistemologies and teaching practice. She argues that challenges in the field lie in how broader contexts impact personal epistemologies and practice. These contextual influences may influence how teachers view the role of authority in knowledge building, the certainty of knowledge, and how knowledge is justified. This suggests that links between personal epistemologies and practice may be moderated by the broader teaching and learning environments (Johnston, Woodside-Jiron, & Day, 2001; Kang & Wallace, 2005). This book takes up Hofer’s challenge to further explore personal epistemology as a construct in the field of teaching and teacher education by addressing the following topics:

• The nature of teachers’ personal epistemologies
• Teachers’ personal epistemologies and learning
• Teachers’ personal epistemologies and teaching
• Changing personal epistemology in teacher education programs

The Nature of Teachers’ Personal Epistemologies

Personal epistemology is philosophy at the individual level and reflects how we think about knowledge and knowing (Hofer, 2010). In general, the term Personal epistemology is more widely used than epistemological beliefs because it reflects the individual, rather than philosophical, nature of these beliefs (Kitchener, 2002; Sandoval, 2005). Whereas there is still no definitive view about whether personal epistemology as a construct reflects beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, ways of knowing, or reasoning skills, there is overall support for the notion that personal epistemology involves an individual’s cognition about knowing and knowledge (Pintrich, 2002). It is not surprising then, that in addition to the variety of perspectives about what constitutes personal epistemology, a range of paradigms is evident in the field. These paradigms, including epistemological development, epistemological beliefs, epistemological theories, epistemic metacognition, and epistemological resources (Hofer, 2004a, 2004b), have provided us with rich understandings about how to promote effective learning, and to a lesser extent, effective teaching in a range of education contexts. It informs the first main topic that this book seeks to address: What is the nature of teachers’ personal epistemologies? Figure 1.1 provides an overview of the chapters in this book which address this topic.

Figure 1.1 How do we conceptualize personal epistemology?

In the first paradigm, Epistemological development, much of the research has examined how a range of education contexts influence the development of personal epistemology (Hofer, 2004a). These unidimensional, stage-like views of change in personal epistemologies are reflected in the seminal work of Perry (1970) and King and Kitchener (1994). This early work showed that individuals may move from simple, black and white views through to complex evidenced-based ways of knowing. A considerable body of recent evidence has also reflected similar developmental trajectories. For example, Kuhn and Weinstock (2002) reported changes in personal epistemology from absolutist (absolute view of knowledge), to subjectivist (personal opinions count) to evaluativist (tentative, evidenced based knowledge). Individuals with Absolutist personal epistemologies view knowledge as either right or wrong, and so there is little need to be reflective or evaluate knowledge. As individuals begin to understand that knowledge is tentative, they may begin to conceive of knowledge and knowing as a personal construction. Here subjectivist beliefs value personal opinions, but knowledge still remains largely unexamined. In the final position, the evaluativist understands that knowledge is constructed, but that some knowledge is “better” than others. This means that knowledge claims need to be made on the basis of evaluating a range of perspectives and then coming to the “best” evidenced based response. From this perspective knowledge is tentative, perspectival, and constructed. The research related to personal epistemology commonly uses the terms naive and sophisticated to refer to this range of personal epistemologies (Pintrich, 2002).

Another paradigm which has found prominence in the field of personal epistemology relates to Epistemological Beliefs. This paradigm stands in contrast to the developmental paradigm because it focuses on how personal epistemology is comprised of independent, multidimensional beliefs which influence learning (Hofer, 2004a). Schommer was the first to describe personal epistemologies as a set of independent beliefs (Schommer-Aikens, 2004). This means that individuals may hold a range of beliefs that may or may not be aligned to a particular personal epistemological stance. For example, an individual may simultaneously hold naïve beliefs in the certainty of knowledge and yet also believe that knowledge is personally constructed. A large body of research over the last 30 years has drawn on Schommer’s epistemological beliefs as a way to further understand learning in secondary and higher education contexts.

Other research in the field considers personal epistemology as more than a collection of independent beliefs. Research which draws on the paradigm of Epistemological Theories involves a view that individuals may have a general theory of knowledge and the domain-specific theories in relation to, for example, science (Hofer, 2004b). This approach considers personal epistemology to be comprised of theories about the nature of knowing and the nature of knowledge. Hofer has built on this paradigm to describe an emerging field related to Epistemic Metacognition (Hofer, 2004a; Kitchener, 1983). From this perspective personal epistemology is conceived of as a “set of beliefs, organized into theories, operating at the metacognitive level. Such theories develop in interaction with the environment, are influenced by culture and education … operate at both the domain-general and domain-specific level, are situated in practice and are activated in context” (p. 46).

Finally, Epistemological Resources refer to the notion of personal epistemology as context-specific epistemological resources, rather than developmental stages, beliefs, or theories (Louca, Elby, Hammer, & Kagey, 2004). They believe that children as well as adults can have multiple ways of knowing the world that may vary depending on the learning context.

Pintrich (2002) summarized these various paradigms into three broader ways of researching personal epistemology: cognitive developmental (Epistemological development), cognitive (Epistemological beliefs, Epistemic metacognition, Epistemological theories), and contextual (Epistemological resources) approaches. In this chapter, we refer to personal epistemology in the context of teaching and teacher education and take personal epistemology to mean the teachers’ cognition about knowing and knowledge, regardless of the paradigm on which the research is based.

Teachers’ Personal Epistemologies and Learning

Personal epistemologies are considered to be activated during the process of learning and influence the extent to which we make meaning and engage in complex problem solving (Hofer, 2002). This is of critical importance when we consider that the core business of teachers is learning and managing complex environments with multiple stakeholders. Teachers with sophisticated personal epistemologies are more likely to be able to engage in ill-structured problem solving, and argue based on evidence for a “best” solution. This is an important skill for any workplace environment, but especially in teaching contexts. However, whereas sophisticated personal epistemologies may be an important goal for teacher education programs, often undergraduates who finish their courses and enter the profession still hold relatively naïve personal epistemologies. Clearly, in these circumstances, teacher education programs are not helping preservice teachers to develop more sophisticated personal epistemologies needed for effective teaching (White, 2000).

To date, we have strong evidence to show that an individual’s personal epistemology influences learning strategies and learning outcomes in preservice teachers (Muis, 2004). Personal epistemologies may filter how preservice teachers experience learning in teacher education courses and engage in meaningful approaches to learning (Yadav & Koehler, 2007; Many, Howard, & Hoge, 2002; Muis, 2004; Peng & Fitzgerald, 2006). These meaningful approaches to learning can be described as deep-holistic learning strategies (Ramsden, 2003, in Thomas, Pilgrim, & Oliver, 2005). Such strategies focus on building personal meaning and organizing ideas so that links are made to prior knowledge, connecting ideas and evaluating a range of evidence (critical thinking). On the other hand, surface-atomistic strategies focus on the surface or textual meaning with few interconnections made between topics and theories. Often this results in rote learning (Ramsden, 2003, in Thomas, Pilgrim, & Oliver, 2005). The deep-holistic and surface-atomistic approaches to learning reflect what Windschitl (2002) described as strong and weak acts of constructivism. When students engage in strong acts of construction, they use deep-holistic approaches to learning whereas weak approaches to constructivism involve the use of surface-atomistic approaches to learning. In essence, Windschitl’s account of constructivism means that all learners engage in some form of constructivism, although the depth of meaning-making may vary.

A number of studies have shown that sophisticated personal epistemologies are related to meaningful approaches to learning. Bondy et al. (2007) investigated how personal epistemologies were related to approaches to learning by interviewing 14 preservice teachers. They found that students with sophisticated personal epistemologies (knowledge is uncertain and integrated) were more likely to be open to multiple perspectives and to see the interconnections between ideas. Brownlee, Berthelsen, and Boulton-Lewis (2004) also found similar relationships in a group of child care workers in Australia. Care-givers who described evaluativistic patterns of beliefs also described deeper approaches to learning in which connections were made between new and prior knowledge. Some research also suggests that personal epistemologies may be related to levels of critical thinking, which is a dimension of meaningful approaches to learning. Bråten and Størmsø (2006b) showed that 1^st year Norwegian preservice teachers’ personal epistemologies abou...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Tables
• Figures
• Introduction
• Part I Preservice Teachers and Teaching
• Part II Inservice Teachers and Teaching
• Conclusion
• Contributors
• Index