Primary school children as epistemological subjects of their own knowledge and learning. A contribution to the model of didactic reconstruction.

According to Hofer & Pintrich (2002), learners' epistemological beliefs have a considerable influence on their individual learning process and knowledge acquisition. Since even the epistemological beliefs of primary school children are influenced by the beliefs of important people in their learning environment (Elder, 2002), findings about the epistemological beliefs of primary school children and their teachers are highly significant for the control and optimisation of learning and teaching processes.

The research question focussed on two aspects:

1. Research into the epistemological beliefs of primary school children,
2. understanding the influence of teacher beliefs and teaching methods on the epistemological beliefs of their pupils.

In the large-scale qualitative study, primary school children (n = 98) from 10 different Year 4 classes and their class teachers (n = 10) were interviewed. The gender ratio of the group of pupils was evenly distributed. 20% were children with special educational needs. The epistemological beliefs were collected in a two-phase process: the guided interview phase was immediately followed by the creation phase of a concept map on the computer. The data was written down together with the test subjects and validated communicatively. The structure of the guided interviews was identical for the pupils and teachers. The teachers were also asked about the epistemological beliefs of their pupils and asked to complete questionnaires about their teaching methods.

The initial research results show that primary school children are able to develop and verbalise epistemological convictions in various areas of knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences; Sodian's research group (2002) demonstrated this for the natural sciences. Although not all pupils are yet able to distinguish precisely between "learning" and "knowledge", they nevertheless have clear ideas about what they can know, how they have acquired their knowledge and where the origin of knowledge lies. It is striking that the children who are categorised by teachers as particularly low achievers have distinctive strategies for checking their acquired knowledge. High-achieving pupils rarely name such strategies. In general, the elaboration of pupils' epistemological beliefs is greatly underestimated by their teachers. The process of data analysis that has begun should support these preliminary findings and provide new insights into the epistemological beliefs of primary school children.



Elder, A. (2002). Characterising fifth grade students' epistemological beliefs in science. In: Hofer, B. & Pintrich, P. (eds.): Personal Epistemology: The Psychology of Beliefs about Knowledge and Knowing. Mahwah. P. 347 - 363.

Hofer, B. & Pintrich, P. (2002.). Personal Epistemology: The Psychology of Beliefs about Knowledge and Knowing. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Association.

Sodian, B. et al. (2002). Teaching scientific understanding in primary school. In: German Research Foundation (ed.): Die Bildungsqualität von Schule: Schulische und außerschulische Bedingungen mathematischer, naturwissenschaftlicher und überfachlicher Kompetenzen.
URL. Status: 15 October 2002.

Abstract

Primary School Students as Epistemological Subjects: Their Conception of Knowing and Learning.

Primary School students' epistemological beliefs have an important influence on their personal learning and knowing. The preliminary results of this large-scaled qualitative research study show that by the age of 10 children already have differentiated epistemological beliefs that are influenced by the epistemological beliefs of others. They are aware of different resources and strategies to access knowledge and to scrutinise their epistemic doubt. Students at this age do not consider their teachers as omniscient authorities and teachers underestimate their students' epistemological beliefs. Thus, the consideration of the epistemological beliefs of students and their teachers is of high educational significance so that teaching strategies can be designed and learning environments provided that will enhance the conceptual change of Primary School students.

Haerle, F. (2004). Epistemological Beliefs of Primary School students and their teachers and their effects on conceptual change. Vosniadou, S. et al. (Eds). Conceptual Change: Philosophical, Historical, Psychological and Educational Approaches (pp. 66 - 70). Athens: Gutenberg Press.

Haerle, F. (2003). The "inclusive" school practice of primary schools in New South Wales, Australia. A qualitative study. In Sonderpädagogische Förderung, 48 (4), pp. 351- 373.

Phillipson, S. N., Haerle, F. and Volk, V. (2003). A review of the Future Problem Solving Programme in Australia: Is it meeting the needs of the gifted student? In Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 12 (1), pp. 5 - 15.

Haerle, F. and Phillipson, S. N. (2002): The Future Problem Solving Programme in NSW: Is it meeting the needs of the gifted student? In TalentEd, 20 (1), pp. 1-10.

Haerle, F. (2004, May). Epistemological Beliefs of Primary School students and their teachers and their effects on conceptual change. 4th European Syposium on Conceptual Change: Philosophical, Historical, Psychological and Educational Approaches, Delphi.

Haerle, F. (2004, April). Personal Epistemologies of Elementary School Students: Their Beliefs about Knowledge and Knowing. Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Diego.

Haerle, F. (2004, February). Individual epistemologies of primary school children in inclusive classrooms. 18th Annual Conference of Integration Researchers in German-speaking Countries, Lutherstadt Wittenberg.

Haerle, F. (2004, February). The "inclusive" school practice of primary schools in New South Wales, Australia. Invited talk for the Institute of Special education at the University of Cologne.

Haerle, F. (2003, September/October). Primary school children as epistemological subjects: The credulity of good pupils. 64th conference of the Arbeitsgruppe für Empirische Pädagogische Forschung (AEPF): Heterogenität - Eine Herausforderung an die empirische Bildungsforschung, Hamburg.

Haerle, F. (2003, September). Teaching Strategies and their Relation to Learning in Primary School Students. European Conference of Educational Research (ECER), Hamburg.

Haerle, F. (2003, September). The Implementation of Inclusive Classrooms in Primary Schools of New South Wales, Australia. European Conference of Educational Research (ECER), Hamburg.

Haerle, F. (2003, August). Primary School Students as Epistemological Subjects: Their Conception of Knowing and Learning. JURE Pre-conference of the 10th European Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI): Improving your research, fostering the will to research, Padua.

Volk, V., Phillipson, S. N. & Haerle, F. (2003, August). Problem solving and gifted students: Does Future Problem Solving meet their needs? The 15th Biennial World Conference for Gifted and Talented Children: Gifted 2003 - A celebration down under, Adelaide.