The Mediating Effects of Attitudes and Epistemic Beliefs on Conceptual Change

• In Event: Students' Epistemic Cognition

Abstract

We investigated the mediating roles of attitudes and epistemic beliefs in knowledge revision. One hundred and twenty undergraduate students completed an activity involving reading texts about GMFs. Measures of prior learning, attitudes, epistemic beliefs, and posttest learning were collected using self-report inventories. Results indicated that attitudes and beliefs about the complexity of GMF knowledge mediated the relationship between prior (mis)conceptions and posttest knowledge revision. Results also showed refutation texts supported significantly more change in misconceptions compared to expository texts. Findings have important theoretical implications for conceptual change research.

Authors

• James A. Vivian, McGill University

• Krista R. Muis, McGill University

• Greg Trevors, University of South Carolina

• Reinhard Pekrun, University of Essex

• Gale M. Sinatra, University of Southern California