Thursday, November 22, 2007

Teacher Education Students' Epistemological Beliefs:...

Joanne B.

Teachers, like all knowledge workers, need to be self-regulated, critically reflective lifelong learners. Therefore it is important to attend to the 'how' (processes) of learning as well as the 'what' (content) (Klatter et al., 2001). With this in mind, a growing body of research is indicating that teacher educators need to focus on teacher beliefs as a way to facilitate effective learning in tertiary education (Fang, 1996; Richardson et al., 1991). In particular, the body of literature related to teacher beliefs about knowing and learning, otherwise known as epistemological beliefs, may provide valuable insights into how to improve teaching and learning in higher education (Beers, 1984; Hofer, 1994; Hofer and Pintrich, 1997; Schommer, 1990, 1993a, b). In the context of this study, epistemological beliefs refer holistically to personally held beliefs about what knowledge is, how it can be gained, its degree of certainty, and the limits and criteria for determining knowledge (Perry, 1981).

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