ABSTRACT
For some time psychological research has underlined how domain-specific knowledge, general strategic knowledge, and motivational factors such as goal orientation, interest, self-efficacy, and self-regulation all affect learning processes. Only relatively recently has research argued that an additional element, epistemological beliefs, also influences thinking and reasoning. The key point of this chapter is that beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing may facilitate or constrain intentional conceptual change. Sinatra (2000) defined the intentional learner as “one who uses knowledge and beliefs to engage in internally-initiated, goaldirected action, in the service of knowledge or skill acquisition” (p. 15). This chapter argues that personal epistemologies determine the organization of students’ goals; that is, they determine students’ goal orientation to deliberately change their conceptions.
