Characterizing elementary-school students’ epistemology of science: Science as collective theory-building process

Characterizing elementary-school students’ epistemology of science: Science as collective theory-building process

• Lin, Feng University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 1-12, 2018

Springer Science & Business Media

2018

• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GD Science & Technology
• Q Philosophy of Education, Educational System & School At Different Levels
  • QC Primary Education

Education Epistemology of Science Theory Building Science Education Epistemology Elementary School Students

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Unknown or Unspecified

Building on Carey and Smith’s work on epistemology of science, this study characterized elementary students’ scientific epistemology from the role-of-idea and theory-building perspective. The participants included 102 elementary students in Hong Kong. Open-ended questions and coding schemes were developed to examine and characterize their epistemic understanding of science. Four key dimensions were identified: role of idea, theory-fact understanding, theory revision and creation, and social process of scientific progress. The general pattern showed that students’ views of scientific inquiry ranged from seeing it as a mechanical process involving concrete materials and sets of scientific skills, to viewing it as an idea-driven process comprising collective theory-building and knowledge creation. The analysis showed that these students generally had a limited understanding of the role-of-idea and theory-building in science. Quantitative analysis indicated that this conceptualized epistemology of science was an important predictor of students’ academic performance in science. Implications for science education and future research are discussed.
[Copyright of The Asia - Pacific Education Researcher is the property of Springer Science & Business Media. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40299-018-0411-4]

• English

Journal Articles

• 01195646

• 10.1007/s40299-018-0411-4

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/6ffdcf93

2018-12-11