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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Keith Johnson and Shannon D. Willoughby
This article discusses an investigation regarding nature of science (NOS) implementations and epistemological beliefs within an undergraduate introductory astronomy course. The five year study consists of two years of baseline data in which no explicit use of NOS material was implemented, then three years of subsequent data in which specific NOS material was integrated into the classroom. Our original study covered two years of baseline data and one year of treatment data. Two additional years of treatment course data have revealed intriguing new insights into our students' epistemic belief structure. To monitor the evolution of belief structures across each semester we used student pre-post data on the Epistemological Beliefs About the Physical Sciences (EBAPS) assessment. The collected data were also partitioned and analyzed according to the following variables: college (Letters of Science, Business, Education, etc.), degree (BA or BS), status (freshman, sophomore, etc.), and gender (male or female). We find that the treatment course no longer undergoes significant overall epistemic deterioration after a semester of instruction. We also acquire a more detailed analysis of these findings utilizing the aforementioned variables. Most notably, we see that this intervention had a pronounced positive impact on males and on students within the college of Education, Arts & Architecture, and those with no concentration. Lastly, whether or not students believe their ability to learn science is innate or malleable did not seem to change, remaining a rigid construct with student epistemologies.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 14, Issue 1, Pages 010110
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Astronomy
- Astronomy Education
= Education Research
Education - Basic Research
- Assessment
= Conceptual Assessment
= Instruments
- Sample Population
= Age
= Gender
- Student Characteristics
= Affect
General Physics
- Philosophy
- Lower Undergraduate
- High School
- Upper Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
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- PER Literature
- Administrators
- Researchers
- Educators
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Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110
Keywords:
EBAPS, Nature of Science, astronomy attitudes, epistemological beliefs, epistemological contextualism
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created December 31, 2018 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
May 9, 2022 by Caroline Hall
Last Update
when Cataloged:
February 26, 2018
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AIP Format
K. Johnson and S. Willoughby, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14 (1), 010110 (2018), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110).
AJP/PRST-PER
K. Johnson and S. Willoughby, Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14 (1), 010110 (2018), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110>.
APA Format
Johnson, K., & Willoughby, S. (2018, February 26). Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 14(1), 010110. Retrieved February 16, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110
Chicago Format
Johnson, Keith, and Shannon Willoughby. "Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14, no. 1, (February 26, 2018): 010110, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110 (accessed 16 February 2025).
MLA Format
Johnson, Keith, and Shannon Willoughby. "Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14.1 (2018): 010110. 16 Feb. 2025 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Keith Johnson and Shannon Willoughby", Title = {Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {14}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010110}, Month = {February}, Year = {2018} }
Refer Export Format

%A Keith Johnson %A Shannon Willoughby %T Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 14 %N 1 %D February 26, 2018 %P 010110 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Johnson, Keith %A Willoughby, Shannon %D February 26, 2018 %T Changing epistemological beliefs with nature of science implementations %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 14 %N 1 %P 010110 %8 February 26, 2018 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010110


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