Why Do Experts Disagree? The Role of Disciplinary Contexts and Epistemic Perspectives in Students' Conflict Explanations

• In Event: 61.030 - Epistemic Cognition Across Multiple Texts and Contexts

Abstract

Laypeople who seek to make decisions about current issues are often faced with conflicting expert accounts. The ways in which these conflicts are interpreted and evaluated may influence subsequent knowledge construction. This study examined the impact of disciplinary contexts and epistemic perspectives on conflict explanations. 177 students responded to an epistemic thinking assessment and rated conflict explanations regarding two controversies in history and biology. In the biology problem, conflicts were predominantly attributed to topic complexity and research methods, whereas in the history problem, conflicts were predominantly attributed both to topic complexity and to researchers’ motivations. Conflict explanations were also predicted by students’ epistemic perspectives. The study thus highlights that both contextual and individual differences play a role in conflict explanations.

Authors

• Eva Thomm, University of Münster

• Sarit Barzilai, University of Haifa

• Rainer F. Bromme, University of Münster