The role of educational context in beliefs about knowledge, information, and truth: an exploratory study

Alexandra List, Emily Grossnickle Peterson, Patricia A. Alexander, Sofie M.M. Loyens

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Beliefs about knowledge have been found to relate to a variety of student outcomes and to vary across educational domains and instructional contexts. However, there are limited data on students’ beliefs about information and truth, vis-à-vis knowledge (i.e., epistemic beliefs) and how these beliefs differ across instructional settings. Undergraduates from two educational contexts, in the USA (n = 240) and the Netherlands (n = 72), participated in this study. While students in the USA were enrolled primarily in lecture and discussion classes, students in the Netherlands followed a problem-based learning curriculum. Beliefs about knowledge, information, and truth and their interrelations were examined across these two contexts through graphical and written justification tasks. Results from this exploratory study indicate that Dutch students were more likely than American students to depict knowledge, information, and truth as subjective and to define knowledge and information as synonymous. Commonalities and differences associated with educational backgrounds are considered in relation to instructional implications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)685-705
Number of pages21
JournalEuropean Journal of Psychology of Education
Volume33
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2018

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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