Elaborate the significance epistemological theories in educational and in teaching profession

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Elaborate the significance epistemological theories in educational and in teaching profession
Introduction
Education is a social discipline. Epistemology is about the foundations of knowledge. You would think they cross paths, but often they don’t.Educators like to ‘gloss over the difficult parts’. Epistemology is about finding a solution no matter if it is easy or difficult. They are like rhetorical opposites The way we teach in higher education will be driven primarily by our beliefs or even more importantly, by the commonly agreed consensus within an academic discipline about what constitutes valid knowledge in the subject area. The nature of knowledge centres on the question of how we know what we know. What makes us believe that something is ‘true’? Questions of this kind are epistemological in nature. Hofer and Pintrich (1997) state:
‘Epistemology is a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and justification of knowledge.’

The Significance Epistemological Theories In   Educational And In Teaching Profession. 

Awareness
Epistemological  beliefs  are  arguably  important  to  both  academic  and  applied  psychology. Development of scientific reasoning skills has been recommended as a central goal of psychology education (Cranney et al., 2008; Halonen et al., 2003). Similarly, codes of  ethics state that applying psychological knowledge requires awareness of the need for  ongoing  learning  and  limitations  of  existing  knowledge  (Australian  Psychological  Society,  2007).  A  critical  perspective  regarding  new  knowledge  requires  relatively sophisticated  EB  (Halonen  et  al.,  2003).  Therefore,  for  graduates  to  apply  psychological knowledge ethically,  technical  skills need  to  be  accompanied by skills for discovering, interpreting,  and  integrating relevant evidence,  which involves well developed Epistemological  beliefs 


source  of  knowledge  .Elby  &  Hammer,  2001,  for  critique  of  “consensus”  views  of  EB
sophistication).  Similarly, viewing  the  source  of  knowledge  as  “experts”  would  be  considered  less  sophisticated  than  viewing  the  source  as  an  array  of  evidence  potentially varying  in quality,  support  for or against  a proposition,  and  replicability.

Structure of EB and boundaries with other constructs  continue  to  be debated (Chinn,  Buckland, & Samarapungavan, 2011), but reviews have consistently supported utility  of  EB  for  understanding  and  improving  teaching  and  learning,  due  to  associations  between  EB  and  both  learning  and  motivation  (Bendixen  &  Rule,  2004;  Greene,

Muis,  &  Pieschl,  2010;  Hofer,  2001;  Hofer  &  Pintrich,  1997;  King  &  Kitchener,
2004;  Schommer-Aikins,  2004).  Potential  cultural  differences  in  EB  have also  been
explored (Braten, Gil, Stromso, & Vidal-Abarca, 2009; Khine, 2008).
Measurement

Perry  (1968)  used  interviews.  A  widely  used  format  is  the  semi-structured  Reflective Judgment  Interview (King  & Kitchener,  2004).  The student is  questioned  about  several  controversial  topics  (e.g.,  the  accuracy of  news reporting).  Questions  include  the  student’s  beliefs,  their  certainty  about  those  beliefs,  and  how  people  including  experts  may  disagree  on  this  topic.  Internal  consistency  is  high  (median  Cronbach’s alphas around .80; King & Kitchener,  2004). 

Significance of Epistemological Beliefs  9
pronounced difference found  among  students at  higher  year levels  (unpublished data
from Wood, Kitchener & Jensen, cited by King & Kitchener, 2004).   Students’  EB  change  with  time  in  psychology  programs.  Focus  groups conducted  with beginning,  second  and  third  year psychology  students  in  the United Kingdom  (UK)  showed  that  beginning  students  viewed  psychology as  being  open-ended  and  creative (suggesting  relativist  and  constructivist epistemologies),  but also  as  constituting  a  body of  knowledge (suggesting  a dualist  epistemology; Wallwork,
Mahoney, & Mason, 2006). Second and third-year students referred to the discipline’s
complexity,  with  this  being  viewed  more  positively  by  third  years.  This  implied
greater acceptance of relativism by advanced students.

Significance of Epistemological Beliefs  10
Students changed  in  complex ways  that  varied  among different  areas  of knowledge  and  practice.  They  concluded  that  development  of  professional  identity  should  be  considered in conjunction with EB. This may also pertain to psychology students who  are in professional streams of study.   In  summary,  studies  within  and  across  disciplines  suggest  that  students  are  likely  to  have  more  sophisticated  EB  regarding  psychology  than  many  other disciplines.  Why might  psychology  foster  sophisticated  EB?  Psychology  focuses  on  critical thinking,  through  emphasis on  research  methods  and  integrating knowledge  from  multiple theoretical  perspectives  (Reddy,  Hammond, Lewandowska,  Trapp,  &  Marques,  2011).

 Psychology  students  are  encouraged  to  develop  scepticism  to  understand  and  justify  sources  of  evidence  and  know  how  to  distinguish  between  different  strength  evidence.  Psychology  also  emphasises  writing  more  than  some  other  disciplines,  which  requires  students  to  compare  and  integrate  competing  knowledge. This may encourage constructivist approaches. 
If  sophisticated  EB  are  fostered  by  studying  psychology,  how  might  this

Significance of Epistemological Beliefs 
Shinn, 2003). Entwistle and Peterson (2004) noted that students who viewed learning  as being about transforming or constructing knowledge focused on understanding and  displayed  intrinsic  academic  orientation  and  a  self-regulated  approach  to  learning.  Students  who  viewed  learning  as  being  about  memorising  fact-based  fragments  of  knowledge were more likely to use surface-level rehearsal and memorising strategies.

Significance of Epistemological Beliefs
Schommer- Aikins and Easter (2006) found that business students who believed in quick learning  had  worse reading  comprehension  and poorer  course  grades, whereas  other  EB  did
not correlate with academic outcomes. However, Hofer and Pintrich (1997) criticised
“quick learning” on methodological and conceptual grounds as beliefs about learning
rather than beliefs about knowledge.
Trautwein and Lüdtke (2007) found that higher certainty of knowledge beliefs  in final year high school students were associated with lower grades, after controlling  for cognitive ability and socioeconomic status. Similarly, Phan (2008) found that both  EB  and  learning  approaches  predicted  academic  performance  of  university  mathematics  students,  and  that  learning  approaches  mediated  effects  of  EB  on  academic  performance.  University  physics  students  who  showed  higher  gains  in  conceptual knowledge  during  first  year described  their learning in  ways  that implied  more sophisticated EB (May & Etkina, 2002). 

Conclusion

Beliefs about the nature of knowledge, termed “epistemological beliefs”, are relevant  to understanding educational strategies of both learners and teachers.  Epistemological  beliefs arguably have particular relevance in the discipline and profession of  psychology, due to an emphasis on integration of knowledge from multiple theoretical  perspectives.

References

Harasim, L. (2012) Learning Theory and Online Technologies New York/London: Routledge

Hofer, B. and Pintrich, P. (1997) ‘The development of epistemological theories: beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning’ Review of Educational Research Vol. 67, No. 1, pp. 88-140
Schunk, D. (2011) Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective Boston MA: Allyn and Bacon

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