An analysis of teacher candidates' epistemological beliefs: A qualitative study

Abstract

This study aimed to determine epistemological beliefs of teacher candidates. For this aim, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 56 teacher candidates. The interviews were recorded and records related to epistemological beliefs were transcribed, and then descriptive analyses were conducted. The results of the analyses revealed three main belief dimension. Regarding the first dimension, the candidates associated between learning and effort, and they thought that the innate ability would improve via effort; as for the second dimension, the majority thought that knowledge construction process is slow and a relative concept; and regarding the third dimension, most of the teacher candidates were of three different perspectives - knowledge absolutely changes, it changes based on the field and it doesn't change. Also, most of the candidates stated that words possess more than one meaning, people attribute meanings to words on the basis of their experiences, and there is not only one true answer to scientific problems, since knowledge changes in time and scientists propose different solutions to problems.

The Pattern of Epistemological Belief in Design among Engineering Students

“…In particular, Schommer's (1990) conceptualization is built using an exploratory study in which the questionnaire construction has been reported accordingly. The instrument has been adopted in many fields, looking into specific epistemological beliefs on a particular knowledge theory (Aslan, 2017;Yıldırır and Çirkinoğlu-Şekercioğlu, 2018;Uzuriaga López, 2021). To this end, Schommer (1990) presupposes five epistemological dimensions, three of which relate to knowledge (i.e., structure, certainty, and source).…”

Sekizinci Sınıf Öğrencilerinin Cebirsel Düşünme Becerilerinin Matematik Odaklı Epistemolojik İnançlar Bağlamında Açıklanması

“…Cebirsel düşünme becerileri ile matematik odaklı epistemolojik inançların boyutları arasında farklı düzeylerde ilişkinin belirlenmiş olması, Schommer (1990) tarafından dile getirilen bilgilerin birbirinden bağımsız parçalardan ve boyutlardan oluştuğu kuramsal anlayışla da örtüşmektedir. Aynı zamanda bu bulgu, öğrencilerin çoğunluğunun öğrenmenin çabaya bağlı inançlarını ön planda tuttuğu ve bu yönde daha gelişmiş epistemolojik inançlara sahip olduğu söylemleri de desteklemektedir (Öngen, 2003;Yıldırır & Çirkinoğlu-Şekercioğlu, 2018).…”