Students’ Domain-Specific Scientific Epistemological Beliefs: A Comparison between Biology and Physics

Among recent studies of students’ epistemological beliefs, great attention has been devoted to science education. However, investigation across different domains of science is rare. The major purpose of this study is to compare students’ scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs) in biology and physics. In this qualitative study, interviews were conducted to 1) recognize domain-general and domain-specific dimensions of SEBs derived from the interview data, and 2) compare students’ beliefs about biology and physics for the “simplicity” and “certainty” dimensions defined in previous studies. The research subjects in this study included 18 college students majoring in science or engineering. The results suggest a framework with four dimensions of SEBs. Students’ SEBs for biology and physics appeared to be domain-specific for the structural-within and structural-across dimensions, but domain-general for the pragmatic and empirical dimensions. In addition, the students believed that physics was more coherent and certain than biology. This study concludes that domain-general and domain-specific SEBs co-exist for different science domains, and that some dimensions of SEBs may be nested. Suggestions regarding revision or clarification of some previously defined dimensions of SEBs are provided.

[1]  Robert Nola,et al.  Relativism and realism in science , 1988 .

[2]  B. Hofer,et al.  Exploring the dimensions of personal epistemology in differing classroom contexts: Student interpretations during the first year of college , 2004 .

[3]  Chin-Chung Tsai.  Biological knowledge is more tentative than physics knowledge: Taiwan high school adolescents' views about the nature of biology and physics. , 2006, Adolescence.

[4]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  Exploring high school students' views regarding the nature of scientific theory: A study in Taiwan , 2010 .

[5]  M. Lombard,et al.  Content Analysis in Mass Communication: Assessment and Reporting of Intercoder Reliability , 2002 .

[6]  Z. Dagher,et al.  Students' perceptions of the nature of evolutionary theory , 2005 .

[7]  James J. Watters,et al.  Approaches to Learning by Students in the Biological Sciences: Implications for teaching , 2007 .

[8]  J. Bruner.  The Process of Education , 1960 .

[9]  A. Biglan.  The characteristics of subject matter in different academic areas. , 1973 .

[10]  K. Popper,et al.  The Logic of Scientific Discovery , 1960 .

[11]  R. Driver,et al.  Young people's images of science , 1996 .

[12]  P. Alexander,et al.  Beliefs About Academic Knowledge , 2001 .

[13]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  The Relations Between Scientific Epistemological Beliefs and Approaches to Learning Science Among Science-Major Undergraduates in Taiwan , 2010 .

[14]  Michael B. Paulsen,et al.  DOMAIN DIFFERENCES IN THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS , 1998 .

[15]  M. Patton,et al.  Qualitative evaluation and research methods , 1992 .

[16]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  "Laboratory Exercises Help Me Memorize the Scientific Truths": A Study of Eighth Graders' Scientific Epistemological Views and Learning in Laboratory Activities , 1999 .

[17]  Laura Wenk,et al.  Relations among three aspects of first-year college students' epistemologies of science , 2006 .

[18]  Mansoor Niaz.  How Important are the Laws of Definite and Multiple Proportions in Chemistry and Teaching Chemistry? – A History and Philosophy of Science Perspective , 2001 .

[19]  S. Barker,et al.  Epistemological Beliefs Across Domains Using Biglan's Classification of Academic Disciplines , 2003 .

[20]  M. Niaz,et al.  Understanding nature of science as progressive transitions in heuristic principles , 2001 .

[21]  Randy L. Bell,et al.  Views of nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners' conceptions of nature of science , 2002 .

[22]  Ernest H. Hutten.  THE ROLE OF MODELS IN PHYSICS* , 1953, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

[23]  P. Pintrich,et al.  The Development of Epistemological Theories: Beliefs About Knowledge and Knowing and Their Relation to Learning , 1997 .

[24]  Lisa D. Bendixen,et al.  Domain-Generality and Domain-Specificity in Personal Epistemology Research: Philosophical and Empirical Reflections in the Development of a Theoretical Framework , 2006 .

[25]  Cathleen C. Loving.  Nature of Science Activities Using the Dichotomy to a Philosophy Checklist Scientific Profile: From the Hawking-Gould , 1998 .

[26]  Leif Östman,et al.  Epistemological Norms and Companion Meanings in Science Classroom Communication , 2009 .

[27]  E. Mayr.  The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance , 1983 .

[28]  David Hammer,et al.  Epistemological Beliefs in Introductory Physics , 1994 .

[29]  Richard J. Stevens,et al.  Human Nature and the Nature of Science. , 1988 .

[30]  M. Patton.  Qualitative research & evaluation methods , 2002 .

[31]  Marlene Schommer.  Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. , 1990 .

[32]  John Dewey,et al.  Reconstruction in Philosophy. , 1921 .

[33]  Andrew Elby,et al.  Tapping Epistemological Resources for Learning Physics , 2003 .

[34]  Andrew Elby,et al.  The impact of epistemology on learning: A case study from introductory physics , 2004 .

[35]  Patricia M. King,et al.  Reflective judgment: Concepts of justification and their relationship to age and education☆ , 1981 .

[36]  G. Ashkenazi,et al.  Coordination of theory and evidence: Effect of epistemological theories on students' laboratory practice , 2007 .

[37]  John Leach,et al.  University science students' experiences of investigative project work and their images of science , 1999 .

[38]  E. Mayr.  This Is Biology: The Science of the Living World , 1997 .

[39]  C. Olin-Scheller,et al.  Differences in the Scientific Epistemological Views of Undergraduate Students , 2008 .

[40]  Richard Pulmones.  Linking Students' Epistemological Beliefs with their Metacognition in a Chemistry Classroom , 2010 .

[41]  B. Hofer,et al.  Dimensionality and Disciplinary Differences in Personal Epistemology. , 2000, Contemporary educational psychology.

[42]  P. Alexander,et al.  Beliefs about schooled knowledge: Domain specific or domain general? , 2002 .

[43]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  Developing a Multi‐dimensional Instrument for Assessing Students’ Epistemological Views toward Science , 2005 .

[44]  W. McComas,et al.  A Textbook Case of the Nature of Science: Laws and Theories in the Science of Biology , 2003 .

[45]  Reijo Miettinen,et al.  Epistemology of Transformative Material Activity: John Dewey's Pragmatism and Cultural‐Historical Activity Theory , 2006 .

[46]  David M. Moss,et al.  Examining student conceptions of the nature of science , 2001 .

[47]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  An Analysis of Scientific Epistemological Beliefs and Learning Orientations of Taiwanese Eighth Graders , 1998 .

[48]  Marlene Schommer,et al.  Comparisons of beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning among postsecondary students , 1993 .

[49]  Ernst Mayr,et al.  Book Reviews-What Makes Biology Unique?: Considerations on the Autonomy of a Scientific Discipline , 2004 .

[50]  B. Hofer,et al.  Beliefs About Knowledge and Knowing: Integrating Domain Specificity and Domain Generality: A Response to Muis, Bendixen, and Haerle (2006) , 2006 .

[51]  Ulrich Trautwein,et al.  Predicting global and topic-specific certainty beliefs: domain-specificity and the role of the academic environment. , 2007, The British journal of educational psychology.

[52]  Rose M. Marra,et al.  College student epistemological perspectives across knowledge domains: A proposed grounded theory , 2004 .