written by Andrew Elby
published by the American Association of Physics Teachers
edited by Charles R. Henderson and Kathleen A. Harper

In this chapter, I introduce the notion of student epistemologies and expectations, their views about what counts as knowledge and learning in a given physics class and in physics more generally.  I then review some of the ways in which researchers have studied these constructs and make suggestions about getting started on your own research.  A major theme is that important theoretical questions about the cognitive structures and processes underlying student epistemologies -- and how best to study them -- are not yet settled.  Researchers therefore need to try to uncover and articulate the theoretical assumptions implicit in their research methods.

• Download PER_Research_on_Epistemologies_and_Expectations.pdf - 310kb Adobe PDF Document

Published October 14, 2010
Last Modified January 8, 2011

This file is included in the full-text index.
This file has previous versions.