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epistemological beliefs of underprepared undergraduate students
Epistemological beliefs have emerged as a factor influencing self-regulated learning. Specifically, epistemological beliefs are defined as the general, fundamental understandings or intuitions that a learner holds about the nature of knowledge and learning (Jehng, Johnson, & Anderson, 1993). Of particular interest to the following study were the epistemological beliefs of underprepared undergraduate students and their relationship to metacognitive knowledge and academic success. In previous research, epistemological beliefs have emerged across six dimensions (a) certain knowledge, (b) orderly process, (c) quick learning, (d) innate ability, (e) omniscient authority, and (f) simple knowledge. The 101 subjects in the study were participants in the university's program for provisional students. Students participating in the program were designated as underprepared or provisional by the university due to deficiencies in any combination of high school GPR, SAT, size of high school, quality of senior year coursework, leadership experiences, and extracurricular experiences. Epistemological beliefs of the underprepared students were assessed using an instrument designed by Jehng et al. (1993). Metacognitive knowledge of learning and memory was assessed using an instrument designed by the researcher. The instruments designed to measure epistemological beliefs and metacognition were administered twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of the students' first five week summer session. Data used to indicate academic success were scores from the SAT Math test, SAT Verbal test, and college grade point averages. Results from the present study demonstrated that the epistemological beliefs of underprepared undergraduate students tended to be naive rather than sophisticated. In addition, the beliefs of the underprepared students could not be characterized across six distinct dimensions but emerged rather as two general beliefs regarding the nature of learning and the nature of knowledge. Further results indicated that underprepared students' epistemological beliefs were related to their metacognitive knowledge of learning and memory only after five weeks of college experience. Finally, epistemological beliefs did not demonstrate any relationship to indicators of academic success such as SAT scores or grade point averages.
"Major Subject: Educational Psychology".
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc.
Includes bibliographical references: pages 117-129.