EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND LEARNING CONCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE TEACHERS

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EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND LEARNING CONCEPTIONS IN
SCIENCE TEACHERS

• Ma. Xóchitl Bonilla Pedroza
• Universidad Pedagógica Nacional
• Leticia Gallegos Cázares
• Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

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Introduction

• Research about the NOS has increased in the last
  decades and results show that such analysis is
  fruitful to understand science teachers
  conceptions and practice.
• However the expected causal relationship between
  teachers conceptions about the NOS and their
  teaching practices has not yet been soundly
  established.
• One of these relationships that needs attention
  is the influence of the teachers conceptions
  about the NOS on their learning conceptions.

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Considerations

• The influence of epistemological theories in the
  development of learning theories has been
  recognized and it is possible to identify
  correlations between theories.
• Teachers conceptions about Learning of Science
  (LOS) differently of NOS have received less
  attention.
• We consider, however, that teaching practice is
  greatly influenced by teachers combined
  conceptions about the NOS and the LOS.

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Research questions

• What are the NOS and LOS conceptions of secondary
  (junior high school) science teachers in Mexico?
• Are there any relationships between NOS and LOS
  conceptions?
• How do these conceptions influence the teaching
  practice in the classroom?

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To identify NOS teachers conception we used the
following categories
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To identify LOS teachers conceptions we used the
following categories
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Methodology

• Population 313 secondary science teachers in
  urban schools in the state of Morelos in Mexico.
• Questionnaires One NOS (11 items) and one LOS (8
  items) questionnaire was answered by all
  teachers. Each question has multiple choices
  corresponding to each epistemological or learning
  position and teachers are asked to justify their
  answers.
• Interviews. 16 teachers were interviewed in order
  to clarify their answers to the questionnaires
• Class observation. 16 teachers were observed
  (still in analysis)

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An example of the NOS questionnaire

• 1.- The main role of observation in the
  generation of scientific knowledge is
• To generate knowledge and generalize
  perceptions--------------------------------- (
  )
• To prove the organization and logical coherence
  of theory-------------------------- ( )
• To confirm the personal ideas of the
  researchers--------------------------------------
  ( )
• To enlarge the data base in order to refuse a
  theory------------------------------------- ( )
• To enlarge the data base in order to confirm a
  theory---------------------------------- ( )
• Another? ________________
• Please justify your selection
  ____________

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An example of the LOS questionnaire

• 8. As science teacher your most important
  objective regarding your students is that they
• Acquire scientific information -------------------
  ------------------------------------------------ (
  )
• Transform their representations of reality
  --------------------------------------------------
  - ( )
• Learn the meaning of concepts -------------------
  --------------------------------------------- (
  )
• Discover scientific laws -------------------------
  -------------------------------------------------
  ( )
• Another? ---------------------------------------
  --------------------------------------------------
  ---( )
• Please justify your selection
• _________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  _____

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Data analysis NOS categories

• The empiricist teacher believes that knowledge is
  universal and a copy of reality, the process of
  knowledge is induction method.
• The logical positivist teacher thinks that
  knowledge corresponds to reality and the process
  of knowledge follows only logical rules.
• The rationalist teacher mainly thinks that
  knowledge is universal and the process of knowing
  follows rational processes.
• The critical rationalism teacher is oriented to a
  falsationist approach but holds correspondence
  with reality.
• The constructivist teacher thinks that knowledge
  is not identical to reality and the process of
  knowing is the result of a social construction.

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Data analysis LOS categories

• The teacher oriented to associationism thinks
  that learning means to acquire information
  through a process of stimulus-response.
• The learning by discovery teacher thinks mainly
  that some conditions and hands on activities are
  necessary.
• The teacher oriented to meaningful learning,
  mainly thinks that learning is to incorporate
  hierarchical and meaningful concepts.
• The teacher oriented to constructivism mainly
  thinks that learning is a personal (or social)
  construction that has the function of providing
  with a specific view of the world.

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Data analysis cluster and profiles

• Based on a method developed by Gallegos and
  Garritz (2006) which is inspired on Bachelard
  (1984) and Mortimer (1995) we used a cluster
  analysis of the profiles of groups of students.
  The steps are
• Determine the profiles of each student
• Apply a cluster analysis
• Select the more representative profile for each
  group

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• In order to show both profiles (NOS and LOS),
  profiles are shown in a graph.

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Results Percentage of population by cluster (NOS
and LOS
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Epistemological and learning teachers
preferences by each cluster
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Correlations between NOS and LOS teachers
conceptions

• Four different groups or trends can be identified
  from the cluster analysis
• Group I shows less strong correlations between
  NOS and LOS
• Group II shows strong correlations between NOS
  and LOS
• Group III shows weak correlations between NOS and
  LOS
• Group IV shows exact correlations between NOS and
  LOS (but includes a very small number of teacher
  of the sample)

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I) Three clusters (1, 2, and 3) show a
correlation between constructivism, critical
rationalism, rationalism and learning
constructivism (24 of the sample) also between
logical positivism with discovery learningand
meaningful learning with empiricism.
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Cluster I
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II) In three clusters (4, 6 and 7) the main
correlation is between critical rationalism,
rationalism, cosntructivism, learning by
discovery and associationism. Also appear a
correlation between logical positivism with
meaningful learning and empiricism with
constructivism learning.
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Cluster II




p
l
,
s

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III) Three clusters (5, 8 and 10) have a
correlation between rationalism, critical
rationalism, assotiationism and meaningful
learning (39 of the sample).
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Cluster III
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IV) Only one small cluster (9) shows
correspondence between empiricism with
associationism between logical positivism with
learning by discovery and both constructivism,
both rationalism and meaningful leanrning.
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Cluster IV
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Teachers answers with empiricism
and associationism perspectives
NOS LOS Empiricism
Associationism

• The students answer in the same way I explain
  them. It is not usual that they make other kind
  of explanations. When we check their answers they
  expand the information and at the end I give them
  a summary of the class.
• I want they to learn general concepts.

• Science is the way to get real knowledge
  experiments help us to confirm the theory and it
  is part of the scientific method and at last we
  reach the reality.
• Science gives us knowledge that is real.

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Teachers answers with constructivist
perspectives in NOS and LOS

• I make some questions to know what are their
  ideas, or if they have heard something about it,
  or if they recognize anything.
• They need to compare their ideas with some
  readings, we analyze the texts and get out the
  main ideas. They write these ideas in their
  notebooks.
• We make different activities experiments,
  problem solving. They talk with their peers about
  their results and ideas, I try that they reach an
  agreement.

• Knowledge is a relative truth as long as we do
  not find theories that deny it.
• The theories are subjected to many proofs it is
  possible that different explanations exist.

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CONCLUSIONS

• The NOS profile of the sample shows a general
  preference for empiricism and logical positivism
  positions and these are related with all the 4
  possible LOS categories as has been described in
  the groups obtained from the cluster analysis.
• In 2 of the groups described (II and III) the
  constructivist epistemological position is
  present and can be related to any of the learning
  positions (74 of the sample).
• In 2 of the groups described (I and IV), there is
  a strong correlation between constructivist
  positions (26 of the sample)

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CONCLUSIONS

• Teachers seem to be closer to the current
  pedagogical discourse in terms of their LOS
  conceptions than in their NOS conceptions.
• In general, results show a weak relationship
  between NOS and LOS teachers profiles. A
  possible cause is that teachers do not clearly
  differentiate between epistemological and
  cognitive positions and their answers to
  questionnaires reflect only declarative knowledge
  which does not necessarily relate to their
  teaching practice.

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CONCLUSIONS

• Further research with a deeper approach is
  necessary, specially regarding teachers actions
  in the classroom.