ABSTRACT
In our most mundane encounters with new information and in our most sophisticated pursuits of knowledge, we are influenced by the beliefs we hold about knowledge and knowing. What has been called personal epistemology, epistemological beliefs or theories, ways of knowing, or epistemic cognition, is activated as we engage in learning and knowing. For example, as we read the morning paper, we may make judgments about the credibility of the claims in a particular article or about the source of information. In our professional lives, we confront the learning of new skills and ideas and make determinations about their value and worth to us. As citizens, we are called on to judge competing claims from officials and politicians, to weigh evidence, and to make decisions about issues of importance to ourselves and our communities. And in the classroom, students regularly encounter new information and may approach the learning process quite differently depending on whether they view knowledge as a set of accumulated facts or an integrated set of constructs, or whether they view themselves as passive receptors or active constructors of knowledge. In each of these situations the adequacy of our epistemological theories will in some way determine what and how we make meaning of the information we encounter. As both the amount and the availability of information increase, and as the tools of access change rapidly, we need a better understanding of personal epistemology and its relation to learning. This book is dedicated to such a pursuit.
