Personal Epistemology and Teacher Education


Book Description

This edited volume examines the role of personal epistemology in teaching across early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary contexts, and the implications for teacher education, incorporating the most up-to-date research and theorising in the field.




Personal Epistemology in the Classroom


Book Description

This book presents theoretical and empirical work pertaining to personal epistemology in the classroom and consider its broader educational implications.




Personal Epistemology and Teacher Education


Book Description

Personal Epistemology and Teacher Education, edited by Joanne Brownlee, Gregg Schraw and Donna Berthelsen, provides an international perspective on teachers’ personal epistemology, or beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing. Research from The Netherlands, Cyprus, Australia, United States, Canada, Norway, and Taiwan is presented to provide diverse viewpoints on personal epistemology for early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary teaching contexts. The text provides a platform for cutting-edge theory and research about how personal epistemology can be applied to the context of teacher education, thereby making explicit the connection between personal epistemology and teaching and students’ learning outcomes. Topics include: Cultural differences in teacher epistemology and the impact on students’ learning Teachers’ epistemological beliefs and inclusion Teachers’ epistemology and reading lessons, citizenship education, and teaching science Epistemology in a social context Teachers’ epistemological beliefs and student autonomy Teacher education and analysis of preservice and practicing teachers Implications of teachers’ epistemological beliefs Connections to future practice Teacher education and teacher behaviours are fore-grounded across the topics, with an emphasis on the origin and composition of teachers’ epistemological beliefs and how universities motivate change through formal teacher education. Teaching behaviours are discussed in relation to how teachers’ beliefs are related to the curricular and pedagogical choices that they make in their classrooms, assessment of learning outcomes, and classroom management practices.




Personal Epistemology


Book Description

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of personal epistemology from a psychological and educational perspective. Both theory building and empirical research have grown dramatically in the past decade but, until now, this work has not been pulled together in a single volume. That is the mission of this volume whose state-of-the-art theory and research are likely to define the field for the next 20 years. Key features of this important new book include: *Pioneering Contributors--The book provides current perspectives of each of the major theoreticians and researchers who pioneered this growing field, as well as contributions from new researchers. *Diverse Perspectives--The contributors represent a variety of perspectives, including education, educational psychology, developmental psychology, higher education, and science and mathematics education. *Editorial Integration--Opening and closing chapters by the editors set out key issues confronting the field.




Knowing, Knowledge and Beliefs


Book Description

Bringing together prominent educators and researchers, this book focuses on conceptual and methodological issues relevant to the nature of knowledge and learning. It offers a state-of-the-art theoretical understanding of epistemological beliefs from both educational and psychological perspectives. Readers discover recent advances in conceptualization and epistemological studies across diverse cultures. This is an unbeatable resource for academics and researchers alike.




Teachers' Personal Epistemologies


Book Description

The focus of this book is to explore teachers' evolving personal epistemologies, or the beliefs we hold about the origin and development of knowledge in the context of teaching. The chapters focus on a range of conceptual frameworks about how university and field-based experiences influence the connections between teachers' personal epistemologies and teaching practice. In an earlier volume we investigated preservice and inservice teachers' beliefs and teaching practices (Brownlee, Schraw and Berthelsen, 2011). While we addressed the nature of teachers' personal epistemologies, learning and teaching practices, and approaches for changing beliefs throughout teacher education programs, the volume did not address conceptual frameworks for the development of teacher's personal epistemologies. To address this gap, the book is focused on teacher educators, teachers and teacher education programmers in universities with an overall aim of highlighting how we might support preservice teachers' involvement in learning that is challenging and inservice teachers' engagement in professional experiences that promote changes in teaching practice. We argue that teachers need to be encouraged to question their beliefs and develop increasingly sophisticated beliefs about their knowledge and their students' knowledge that facilitate learning and intellectual growth.




Handbook of Epistemic Cognition


Book Description

The Handbook of Epistemic Cognition brings together leading work from across disciplines, to provide a comprehensive overview of an increasingly important topic: how people acquire, understand, justify, change, and use knowledge in formal and informal contexts. Research into inquiry, understanding, and discovery within academic disciplines has progressed from general models of conceptual change to a focus upon the learning trajectories that lead to expert-like conceptualizations, skills, and performance. Outside of academic domains, issues of who and what to believe, and how to integrate multiple sources of information into coherent and useful knowledge, have arisen as primary challenges of the 21st century. In six sections, scholars write within and across fields to focus and advance the role of epistemic cognition in education. With special attention to how researchers across disciplines can communicate and collaborate more effectively, this book will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the future of knowledge and knowing. Dr. Jeffrey A. Greene is an associate professor of Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. William A. Sandoval is a professor in the division of Urban Schooling at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Dr. Ivar Bråten is a professor of Educational Psychology at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Oslo, Norway.




Mindstorms


Book Description

In this revolutionary book, a renowned computer scientist explains the importance of teaching children the basics of computing and how it can prepare them to succeed in the ever-evolving tech world. Computers have completely changed the way we teach children. We have Mindstorms to thank for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert uses the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly programming language, to make the case for the value of teaching children with computers. Papert argues that children are more than capable of mastering computers, and that teaching computational processes like de-bugging in the classroom can change the way we learn everything else. He also shows that schools saturated with technology can actually improve socialization and interaction among students and between students and teachers. Technology changes every day, but the basic ways that computers can help us learn remain. For thousands of teachers and parents who have sought creative ways to help children learn with computers, Mindstorms is their bible.




Reflective Teacher Education


Book Description

An increasing number of educators are arguing for conceptually sound reflective or inquiry-oriented teacher education programs. The argument is based on the fact that reflective teaching is possible and the belief that teachers should develop habits of consciously informed action. Those who promote reflective teaching argue for teacher empowerment within a self-renewing profession. Reflective Teacher Education offers case studies from seven universities that have organized teacher education programs around the concept of reflection. The cases represent public and private institutions, and alternative and traditional models of teacher preparation. The studies represent efforts to transform the entire professional education component rather than individual courses or isolated strategies. The volume also considers reflection as a conceptual orientation, commenting on its power to inform and improve teacher education, and assessing the implementation of reflection in these specific programs. The six critiques raise intriguing questions about the possibility and desirability of reflective reform efforts by viewing the cases from varying perspectives—development, cognitive, feminist, social reconstructionist, and post-modern.