Source selection and source use as a basis for evidence-informed teaching

Abstract

Abstract. Pre-service teachers rarely deal with problematic classroom situations in an evidence-informed way. One reason is that they often hold unfavourable beliefs about the utility of educational theories and evidence for competently dealing with classroom problems. Unfavourable beliefs about the utility of educational theories and evidence may weaken not only their actual use, but also already the selection of scientific information sources. Furthermore, beliefs about the utility of non-scientific theories and evidence might play a role in this process. We assessed N = 202 pre-service teachers' beliefs about the utility of educational research, subjective theories and anecdotal evidence in dealing with problematic classroom situations. They were presented with a case vignette of a fictitious teacher's unsuccessful attempts to deal with a problematic classroom situation and asked to provide feedback. Before giving feedback, participants could select up to four different information sources, namely (a) an educational theory, (b) the results of an empirical study, (c) a subjective theory, or (d) anecdotal evidence. Results showed that participants had significantly more positive beliefs about the utility of anecdotal evidence compared to educational research and subjective theories. Moreover, they selected educational theory significantly less often than any other source, and anecdotal evidence more frequently than educational theory and evidence. However, in students' feedback, educational theory was used as often as anecdotal evidence and significantly more often than educational evidence and subjective theories. Students' beliefs about the utility of educational theories and evidence were predictive for both selection and use of scientific sources, albeit with rather small effect sizes. The selection and use of non-scientific sources was not predicted by students' beliefs. Pre-service teacher education should not only target future teachers' skill and knowledge acquisition regarding evidence-informed teaching, but also help them develop more favourable beliefs about the utility of scientific theories and evidence.

Science-utility and science-trust associations and how they relate to knowledge about how science works

“…In order to do so, we relied on two lines of research and combined them. Research on the public’s understanding of science [ 10 ] has often focused on trust in science, whereas research on teacher education has used the concept of the perceived utility of science [ 11 – 13 ]. In the present paper, we assumed that these two beliefs are both important for laypeople’s considerations of scientific findings: Trust in science is necessary for laypeople to be able to consider scientific information valid [ 14 , 15 ].…”

“…In the present paper, we assumed that these two beliefs are both important for laypeople’s considerations of scientific findings: Trust in science is necessary for laypeople to be able to consider scientific information valid [ 14 , 15 ]. And even if scientific information is considered valid but not useful, people will probably not base their decisions on it [ 13 , 16 , 17 ]. Thus, both trust in science and the perceived utility of science seem to be beliefs that merit further attention.…”

“…By contrast, mistrust in science is widespread, and interestingly, it is not restricted to populations with little education. Even university students do not consistently prefer information sources with (scientific) expertise over sources who are reporting on their own personal experiences [ 13 , 22 ]. For example, Salmeron and colleagues [ 22 ] had university, primary, and secondary school students rate on a 4-point Likert scale whether or not a fictitious user of a social question-and-answer forum should follow the advice provided in the forum.…”

“…On average, participants recommended following the advice, regardless of expertise, source of information, or the educational level of the participants. Kiemer and Kollar [ 13 ] asked student teachers to work on a case and provided them with both scientific and non-scientific sources. They found that student teachers more often selected non-scientific than scientific sources.…”

“…Research on the public’s understanding of science [ 10 ] often analyzes trust in science. By contrast, the perceived utility of science has been a focus of research on teacher education [ 11 – 13 ] and is often based on expectancy-value approaches [ 16 , 17 ].…”