Interactions Between Assessment and Epistemic Beliefs: Effects on Self-Regulated Learning and Outcomes

• In Event: 46.086 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 46.086-8 - Motivational and Cognitive Processes: Epistemology

Abstract

We examined relations between epistemic beliefs, learning strategies, academic achievement and learners’ perceptions of different assessment methods. Sixty-six undergraduate students reported their epistemic beliefs about climate change, reported their task definitions regarding a multiple-choice task and an inference verification task, read two scientific articles, and then completed each task. Epistemic beliefs and self-regulatory strategies were captured using a think-aloud protocol. Results revealed that students with more constructivist epistemic beliefs adapted their learning strategies to contextual demands in the case of the inference verification task, whereas students with less constructivist epistemic beliefs did not. Achievement was similar for both groups. These findings suggest that more constructivist beliefs do not translate into specific learning patterns, but rather into flexibility across conditions.

Authors

• Marianne Chevrier, McGill University

• Krista R. Muis, McGill University

• Ivana Di Leo, McGill University