Epistemological Beliefs in Introductory Physics

TLDR

Students’ epistemological beliefs can influence how they engage with and learn from physics content. The study investigates students’ epistemological beliefs within an introductory physics course. Six students were interviewed multiple times over a semester using course‑related conversations and tasks to elicit their beliefs. An analytic framework with three dimensions was developed and applied to characterize students’ epistemological beliefs.

Abstract

Students' beliefs about knowledge and learning in a domain may have a significant effect on how they approach the material and on what they learn. This article describes a study of such epistemological beliefs in the context of an introductory physics course. I interviewed 6 students, meeting several times with each over one semester. The interviews involved a variety of conversations and tasks closely tied to the course. Through the development and use of an analytic framework, it was possible to characterize subjects' beliefs. The framework consisted of three dimensions: