Epistemological Beliefs of Teacher Credential Students (original) (raw)

The epistemological beliefs of teacher-credential students were studied to determine if their beliefs change in sophistication after a semester of training. Also studied was the extent of the relationship between academic and home background variables and epistemological beliefs. A convenience sample of 52 white females in their fifth year of college education provided data for the study. A pretest and posttest design was used. The dependent variable was measured by a linear-composite score computed from the 34-item version of M. Schommer's (1990) Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire. A simple demographic survey and a writing task were included with the questionnaire during the posttest. Findings indicate that the distribution of epistemological beliefs obtained from teacher-credential students is about the same as that obtained from undergraduate teacher majors and junior college faculty. Change to greater levels of epistemological beliefs sophistication was found from pretest...