Journal Article Detail Page

Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Lin Ding and Ping Zhang
Previous literature on learners' epistemological beliefs about physics has almost exclusively focused on analysis of university classroom instruction and its effects on students' views. However, little is known about other populations or factors other than classroom instruction on learners' epistemologies. In this study, we used a cross-sequential method, combining both longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, to investigate an epistemological progression trend from preservice to in-service teachers. Six cohorts of participants were studied, who either were then attending or had completed an undergraduate teacher preparation program in physics at a major Chinese university. These cohorts were incoming freshmen, end-of-year freshmen, end-of-year sophomores, end-of-year juniors, end-of-year seniors, and 1st-year high school physics teachers who were about to enter the 2nd year of teaching. We used the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) as both a pretest and a post-test to gauge the changes in the participants' epistemological views over an entire academic year. Follow-up interviews were also conducted to explore factors responsible for such changes. Results showed that the epistemological trend as measured by CLASS did not increase monotonically. Instead, there was a decrease in the epistemological trend among the incoming freshmen in their first year undergraduate studies, followed by a long stasis until the end of the senior year. Then, there was a rebound for the end-of-year seniors in their 1st year of teaching, followed by another plateau. Interviews revealed that the competitive learning environment, increased content difficulty, and unfamiliar pedagogies in college were major factors that negatively influenced incoming freshmen's views about physics. Conversely, a role change from student to teacher and relatively easy content in high school positively impacted end-of-year seniors' views about physics and learning.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 12, Issue 2, Pages 020137
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Assessment
= Longitudinal
- Sample Population
= Instructor: In-service
= Instructor: Pre-service
- Student Characteristics
= Affect
- Teacher Characteristics
= Affect
Education Practices
- Teacher Preparation
= Early Teaching Experiences
- Graduate/Professional
- Lower Undergraduate
- Upper Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Article
= Research study
Intended Users Formats Ratings
- Researchers
- application/pdf
- text/html
  • Currently 0.0/5

Want to rate this material?
Login here!


Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Rights Holder:
Lin Ding and Ping Zhang
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137
Keywords:
CLASS, cross-sectional designs, cross-sequential method, epistemologies, longitudinal designs
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created November 7, 2016 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
May 15, 2019 by Bruce Mason
Last Update
when Cataloged:
November 2, 2016
Other Collections:

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link
AIP Format
L. Ding and P. Zhang, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12 (2), 020137 (2016), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137).
AJP/PRST-PER
L. Ding and P. Zhang, Making of epistemologically sophisticated physics teachers: A cross-sequential study of epistemological progression from preservice to in-service teachers, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12 (2), 020137 (2016), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137>.
APA Format
Ding, L., & Zhang, P. (2016, November 2). Making of epistemologically sophisticated physics teachers: A cross-sequential study of epistemological progression from preservice to in-service teachers. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 12(2), 020137. Retrieved November 12, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137
Chicago Format
Ding, Lin, and Ping Zhang. "Making of epistemologically sophisticated physics teachers: A cross-sequential study of epistemological progression from preservice to in-service teachers." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, no. 2, (November 2, 2016): 020137, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137 (accessed 12 November 2024).
MLA Format
Ding, Lin, and Ping Zhang. "Making of epistemologically sophisticated physics teachers: A cross-sequential study of epistemological progression from preservice to in-service teachers." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12.2 (2016): 020137. 12 Nov. 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Lin Ding and Ping Zhang", Title = {Making of epistemologically sophisticated physics teachers: A cross-sequential study of epistemological progression from preservice to in-service teachers}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {12}, Number = {2}, Pages = {020137}, Month = {November}, Year = {2016} }
Refer Export Format

%A Lin Ding %A Ping Zhang %T Making of epistemologically sophisticated physics teachers: A cross-sequential study of epistemological progression from preservice to in-service teachers %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 12 %N 2 %D November 2, 2016 %P 020137 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Ding, Lin %A Zhang, Ping %D November 2, 2016 %T Making of epistemologically sophisticated physics teachers: A cross-sequential study of epistemological progression from preservice to in-service teachers %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 12 %N 2 %P 020137 %8 November 2, 2016 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020137


Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.

Save to my folders

Contribute