A Novel Assessment of Teacher Epistemologies Concerning Argumentation and Science

• In Event: Trends and Topics in Science Education Research Methods

Abstract

As part of a professional development study of scientific argumentation, DiALoG, we sought to measure teachers’ epistemologies to determine their impact on how teachers teach and if they are amenable to change . Upon not finding a suitable measure for our purposes, we decided to create our own. In this paper, we share our process that builds on prior efforts to assess teachers’ attitudes toward science, and describe the development of contextualized scenario items that present opportunities to gain insight into epistemic cognition. We argue the inclusion of contextualized scenarios will help to address the difficulty that plagues measures intended to tap the true beliefs and attitudes that hinder teachers’ practice. Pretest findings involving 162 teachers support our strategy.

Authors

• Nicole Zillmer, Arizona State University

• April Holton, Arizona State University

• J. Bryan Henderson, Arizona State University

• Eric Greenwald, University of California - Berkeley

• Megan Goss, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California - Berkeley

• Christina Morales, University of California - Berkeley