ABSTRACT
Since the late 1980s, there has been an increasing interest among educational researchers (Carey, Evans, Honda, Jay, & Unger, 1989; Driver, Leach, Millar, & Scott, 1996; Hammer, 1994, 1995; Larochelle & Desautels, 1991; Qian & Alvermann, 1995; Schommer, 1997; Solomon, Duveen, & Sott, 1994; Songer & Linn, 1991, also see Hofer & Pintrich, 1997 for review) in studying students’ epistemological development and epistemological beliefs. According to Hofer and Pintrich (1997), epistemological beliefs refer to individuals’ conceptions “about the nature of knowledge and the nature or process of knowing” (p. 117). Researchers have examined how students know, how the nature of knowledge and knowing is related to students’ learning, and how students’ epistemological beliefs inform classroom instruction in different content areas (Carey et al., 1989; Driver et al., 1996; Hammer, 1995; Larochelle & Desautels, 1991; Qian & Alvermann, 1995; Schommer, 1997; Solomon et al., 1994; Songer & Linn, 1991).
