High School Students’ Epistemological Beliefs, Conceptions of Learning, and Self-efficacy for Learning Biology: A Study of Their Structural Models

Abstract

The current work reveals the data of the study which examines the relationships among epistemological beliefs, conceptions of learning, and self-efficacy for biology learning with the help of the Structural Equation Modeling. Three questionnaires, the Epistemological Beliefs, the Conceptions of Learning Biology and the Self-efficacy for Learning Biology, have been used to investigate 384 high school students' epistemological beliefs, conceptions of learning, and self-efficacy for learning biology, respectively.The results indicate that the students' epistemological beliefs about the source/certainty, justification, and development of biology knowledge have some direct and positive relations with some factors of conceptions of learning. Moreover, it has been found that those students' epistemological beliefs about justification and development, and their conceptions of learning about applying, understanding, and seeing in a new way directly and positively relate to the students' self-efficacy for learning. Only the source/certainty of knowledge directly and negatively relates to the students' self-efficacy. In addition, the students' epistemological beliefs play an indirect role in the students' self efficacy through the mediator of conceptions of learning. It can be said that all these information about the students' epistemological beliefs, conceptions of learning, and self-efficacy for biology learning are required for an effective teaching and learning process.

Cluster analysis on Chinese university students’ conceptions of English language learning and their online self-regulation

“…Conceptions of learning refer to learners' beliefs and views about "their learning experiences and ways of learning" (Liang & Tsai, 2010, p. 2275. There are various studies that have explored conceptions of learning in general (Entwistle & Peterson, 2004;Vermunt & Vermetten, 2004) and in specific domains, such as science (Liang & Tsai, 2010;Lin, Tsai, & Liang, 2012), engineering (Ellis, Goodyear, Calvo, & Prosser, 2008;Lin & Tsai, 2009), biology (Chiou et al, 2012;Sadi & Dagyar, 2015), chemistry (Li et al, 2013), accounting (Abhayawansa & Fonseca, 2010;Byrne & Flood, 2004;Moilanen, 2017), and mass communication (Huang et al, 2018). As English becomes a global language, increasing attention has been paid to the studies of conceptions of English language learning and their possible influence on other factors, such as learner autonomy (Abdel Razeq, 2014;Jafari, Ketabi, & Tavakoli, 2017), learners' language proficiency (Abedini et al, 2011;Peacock, 1999;Tanaka & Ellis, 2003), and use of learning strategies (Ayatollahi, Rasekh, & Tavakoli, 2012;Dahl, Bals, & Turi 2005).…”

“…Conceptions of learning refer to an individual's understanding of, or beliefs about learning and are considered as a critical variable for predicting students' learning approaches (Chiou, Liang, & Tsai, 2012;Huang, Liang, & Tsai, 2018), learning process (Lee, Johanson, & Tsai, 2008;Sadi & Lee, 2015;Vermunt & Vermettan, 2004), and even learning outcomes (Peterson, Brown, & Irving, 2010;Pinto, Bigozzi, Vettori, & Vezzani, 2018). In order to understand the relationship between students' conceptions of learning and other variables, a number of qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted among various student groups in different academic domains (Chiou et al, 2012;Sadi & Dagyar, 2015;.…”

Pre-service Primary School Teachers’ Scientific Epistemological Beliefs and Attitudes toward Science: Is there a Relationship?

“…Liang, Lee, and Tsai (2010) found significant relations between scientific epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning science; in particular, a surface strategy for learning science was found to be negatively predicted by the maturation of beliefs about the source and certainty of scientific knowledge. There are many other studies showing that epistemological beliefs are related to certain learning variables such as academic achievement (Cano, 2005;Mohamed & El-Habbal, 2013;Topçu & Yılmaz-Tüzün, 2009;Yalçın & Aggül-Yalçın, 2017), motivation (Lin et al, 2013;Paulsen & Feldman, 1999), self efficacy in learning (Bendixen & Rule, 2004;Heighl & Thomas, 2013;Sadi & Dağyar, 2015) and attitudes (Fulmer, 2014;Ocak & Erbasan, 2017).…”

Analysis of Variables that Affect Teaching Learning Approaches and Epistemological Beliefs of Pre-Service Teachers by Structural Equation Model

“…These variables can be aligned with epistemological beliefs, individual innovativeness, general self-efficacy, gender (Cano, 2005;Lee & Tsai, 2005;Saçıcı, 2013;Sadi & Dağyar, 2015;Schommer, 1990). With regards to gender effect, while some researchers mention that men are more inclined to constructivist approach (Aydın, Tunca, & Şahin, 2015), some found out that women"s constructivist approach is higher (Aypay, 2011b;Baş, 2014).…”

“…In literature there are some researchers that analysed the relation between teaching learning approaches and epistemological beliefs on statistical model (Cano, 2005;Phan, 2008;Sadi & Dağyar, 2015;Wang et al, 2015); and also there are researchers that analyse effects of variables like general self-efficacy, individual innovativeness, gender on teaching learning approaches without establishing a statistical model (e.g., Cano, 2005;Hofer, 2001). However, there is no study that explains all these variables on only one model.…”