Year: 2014
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Investigations in the field of teacher epistemology have been informative in that they have provided a framework for identifying which epistemic beliefs are associated with student-and teacher centered instruction (Schraw & Olafson, 2002) and which beliefs prevent teachers from adopting student centered instructional practices (Gill, Ashton, & Algina, 2004).Understanding teachers' epistemic beliefs is an important asset to school districts because it provides insight on which teachers may require additional intervention to adopt new teaching practices.However, few studies have examined the epistemic beliefs of high school teachers.There were three objectives of this investigation: (1) to identify the proportions of high school teachers in one urban district whose epistemic beliefs reflect resistance to change teaching practices (Gill et al., 2004; Patrick & Pintrich, 2010) versus those with beliefs amenable to adopting new practices (Feucht, 2010); (2) to identify the proportion of teachers with teacher-and student centered epistemic beliefs by area of certification, and (3) to establish whether relationships exist between high school teachers' epistemic beliefs and selected demographic variables.Findings showed that 57.9% of teachers surveyed held epistemic beliefs that reflect a student centered orientation.Few relationships were found between iv high school teachers' epistemic beliefs and selected demographic factors.Implications for teacher epistemology research and school district leaders were discussed.v I would like to dedicate this document to my parents, Nikki, Richie, and Micayla, the Brothers of Gamma Alpha Chi Fraternity Incorporated, and to my East Akron (Ohio) community.vi
Author: Richard Thomas Montgomery
Institution: University of Toledo
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Toledo
OpenAlex ID: W2342927386