Inductive and deductive justification of knowledge: epistemological beliefs and critical thinking at the beginning of st
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Inductive and deductive justification of knowledge: epistemological beliefs and critical thinking at the beginning of studying mathematics Benjamin Rott 1 Accepted: 22 October 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
Epistemological beliefs are considered to play an important role in processes of learning and teaching. However, research on epistemological beliefs is confronted with methodological issues as for traditionally used self-report instruments with closed items, problems with social desirability, validity, and capturing domain-specific aspects of beliefs have been reported. Therefore, a new instrument with open items has been developed to capture mathematics-related epistemological beliefs, focusing on the justification of knowledge. Extending a previous study, the study at hand uses a larger and more diverse sample as well as a refined methodology. In total, 581 mathematics students (Bachelor of Science as well as pre-service teachers) completed the belief questionnaire and a test for mathematical critical thinking. The results confirm that beliefs can empirically be distinguished into belief position and belief argumentation, with only the latter being correlated to critical thinking. Keywords Epistemological beliefs . Critical thinking . Mathematical competencies . Replication
1 Introduction Studying beliefs has a long tradition in educational research generally (Hofer & Pintrich, 1997) and mathematics education specifically (Thompson, 1992; Philipp, 2007). A special emphasis has been put on epistemological (or epistemic) beliefs (EB), which are beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (Hofer & Pintrich, 1997). Research indicates that reflected or sophisticated EB are correlated with greater learning success (e.g., Hofer & Pintrich, 1997; Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi. org/10.1007/s10649-020-10004-1.
* Benjamin Rott [email protected]
1
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstr. 2, 50931 Cologne, Germany
Rott B.
Trautwein & Lüdtke, 2007). Students with sophisticated EB, that is, students who understand the way that scientific knowledge is created and founded, show better integrated and deeper knowledge than students with less sophisticated EB; in contrast, students seem to learn more superficially if they are convinced that knowledge is stable and secure and only needs to be passed on by authorities (Tsai, 1998a, 1998b). Additionally, sophisticated EB are considered not only as a prerequisite to successfully completing higher education but also for active participation in modern science- and technology-based societies (e.g., Bromme, 2005). Much of the work on students’ EB has been done under the assumption that such beliefs are domain-general (Muis, 2004, p. 346). There are, however, newer studies suggesting that EB can be domain-specific (Muis, 2004; Stahl & Bromme, 2007). Thus, domain-specific EB have been identified as an area in need of further study (Hofer & Pintrich,
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