Abstract
This study examined the relationships in achievement between members of dyads who were paired according to epistemological maturity and engaged in a photosynthesis simulation exercise. This study also examined the relationship between individual students' epistemological maturity and their conceptual understanding of photosynthetic processes. The findings indicated that individuals' conceptual understanding posttest scores could be predicted, in part, by their partners' posttest scores. This relationship between posttest scores was negative. Observations of selected dyads revealed that the epistemologically mature pair members consistently articulated to their partners the relationships they perceived in the simulation environment and verbally hypothesized to their partners more often than the less epistemologically mature members. The less epistemologically mature members of the observed pairs were relatively passive recipients of their more verbal partners' reasonings. They did not appear less methodical, in fact, they tended to focus on the step-wise completion of tasks in the simulation's written guide albeit with few expressions about why or how phenomena took place. Concerning the second research question, posttest scores of individuals could be predicted by the epistemological maturity of the individual. This positive relationship would account for the higher performance on posttest scores by the more epistemologically sophisticated subjects, and, if the epistemologically mature members did play a more active intellectual role in the dyad relationships, it would explain the negatively associated posttest scores of paired subjects.
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Windschitl, M. Student Epistemological Beliefs and Conceptual Change Activities: How Do Pair Members Affect Each Other?. Journal of Science Education and Technology 6, 37–47 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022516901783
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022516901783