Exploring Secondary Preservice STEM Teachers’ Domain-General and Domain-Specific Epistemic Constructs

• In Event: Framing and Epistemology and Theories of Learning

Abstract

This study investigated secondary preservice teachers [SPTs]’ ideas with regard of three epistemic themes (i.e., the nature of knowledge, the certainty of knowledge, and the processes of knowing) and the extent to which those ideas are stable across disciplinary contexts. 16 SPTs entering a teaching preparation program to be certified as teachers on STEM fields were administered an electronic questionnaire composed of nine open-ended items. Analysis of participants’ responses was conducted using the framework of Quantitative Content Analysis (Chi, 1997). Results support two major conclusions: a) SPTs’ responses to domain-general epistemic questions are more psychologically oriented and express theories of learning, whereas their responses to domain-specific are more epistemologically oriented; b) their scientific epistemologies differ substantially from their mathematical epistemologies.

Authors

• Mauricio A. Herron, Purdue University, Universidad Del Norte - Colombia

• Ala Samarapungavan, Purdue University

• Aman Yadav, Purdue University