Knowing About Knowing
Epistemic beliefs are one’s assumptions about knowledge and knowing. Given the research in educational psychology that established epistemic beliefs as reliable predictors of student success, we devised a pedagogical intervention to improve students’ epistemic beliefs. In this study, we examined the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of North Carolina Wilmington
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jethe.org/index.php/jethe/article/view/251 |
| _version_ | 1811242583141122048 |
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| author | Srikanth Dandotkar Laura E. Cruz Jeffrey R. Stowell M. Anne Britt |
| author_facet | Srikanth Dandotkar Laura E. Cruz Jeffrey R. Stowell M. Anne Britt |
| author_sort | Srikanth Dandotkar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Epistemic beliefs are one’s assumptions about knowledge and knowing. Given the research in educational psychology that established epistemic beliefs as reliable predictors of student success, we devised a pedagogical intervention to improve students’ epistemic beliefs. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of the reflective writing task as a means of changing how students think about what is known. Students from two upper-level psychology classes (Cognitive and Research Methods) took a general epistemic belief survey by rating their agreements with 38 items at three different times in a semester (first-day, pre-reflective-writing task, and post-reflective-writing task). Day 1 responses were utilized to validate the survey items using principal component analysis—three variables (Knowledge Construction and Modification-KCM, Structure of Knowledge-KST, and Meaning of Successful Students-SS) emerged. The intervention successfully improved students’ beliefs specific to Structure of Knowledge-KST and Meaning of Successful Students-SS, beliefs that predict student learning. This study suggests that even short interventions have the potential to influence students’ beliefs about knowledge, which have been shown to have demonstrable effects on their academic success. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:53:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a96b7533f70f4a7e9f67dfe056180b84 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2578-7608 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:53:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | University of North Carolina Wilmington |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-a96b7533f70f4a7e9f67dfe056180b842022-12-22T03:30:26ZengUniversity of North Carolina WilmingtonJournal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education2578-76082022-06-015110.36021/jethe.v5i1.251Knowing About KnowingSrikanth Dandotkar0Laura E. Cruz1Jeffrey R. Stowell2M. Anne Britt3University of Southern IndianaPennsylvania State UniversityEastern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois UniversityEpistemic beliefs are one’s assumptions about knowledge and knowing. Given the research in educational psychology that established epistemic beliefs as reliable predictors of student success, we devised a pedagogical intervention to improve students’ epistemic beliefs. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of the reflective writing task as a means of changing how students think about what is known. Students from two upper-level psychology classes (Cognitive and Research Methods) took a general epistemic belief survey by rating their agreements with 38 items at three different times in a semester (first-day, pre-reflective-writing task, and post-reflective-writing task). Day 1 responses were utilized to validate the survey items using principal component analysis—three variables (Knowledge Construction and Modification-KCM, Structure of Knowledge-KST, and Meaning of Successful Students-SS) emerged. The intervention successfully improved students’ beliefs specific to Structure of Knowledge-KST and Meaning of Successful Students-SS, beliefs that predict student learning. This study suggests that even short interventions have the potential to influence students’ beliefs about knowledge, which have been shown to have demonstrable effects on their academic success. https://jethe.org/index.php/jethe/article/view/251epistemic beliefsepistemic reflectionnon-cognitive factorsreflective writing |
| spellingShingle | Srikanth Dandotkar Laura E. Cruz Jeffrey R. Stowell M. Anne Britt Knowing About Knowing Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education epistemic beliefs epistemic reflection non-cognitive factors reflective writing |
| title | Knowing About Knowing |
| title_full | Knowing About Knowing |
| title_fullStr | Knowing About Knowing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Knowing About Knowing |
| title_short | Knowing About Knowing |
| title_sort | knowing about knowing |
| topic | epistemic beliefs epistemic reflection non-cognitive factors reflective writing |
| url | https://jethe.org/index.php/jethe/article/view/251 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT srikanthdandotkar knowingaboutknowing AT lauraecruz knowingaboutknowing AT jeffreyrstowell knowingaboutknowing AT mannebritt knowingaboutknowing |