ERIC Number: EJ1110097
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-0693
EISSN: N/A
Exploring Learners' Beliefs about Science Reading and Scientific Epistemic Beliefs, and Their Relations with Science Text Understanding
Yang, Fang-Ying; Chang, Cheng-Chieh; Chen, Li-Ling; Chen, Yi-Chun
International Journal of Science Education, v38 n10 p1591-1606 2016
The main purpose of this study was to explore learners' beliefs about science reading and scientific epistemic beliefs, and how these beliefs were associating with their understanding of science texts. About 400 10th graders were involved in the development and validation of the Beliefs about Science Reading Inventory (BSRI). To find the effects of reader beliefs and epistemic beliefs, a new group of 65 10th grade students whose reader and epistemic beliefs were assessed by the newly developed BSRI and an existing SEB questionnaire were invited to take part in a science reading task. Students' text understanding in terms of concept gain and text interpretations was collected and analyzed. By the correlation analysis, it was found that when students had stronger beliefs about meaning construction based on personal goals and experiences (i.e. transaction beliefs), they produced more thematic and critical interpretations of the content of the test article. The regression analysis suggested that students SEBs could predict concept gain as a result of reading. Moreover, among all beliefs examined in the study, transaction beliefs stood out as the best predictor of overall science-text understanding.
Descriptors: Epistemology, Beliefs, Scientific Literacy, Reading Comprehension, Grade 10, Secondary School Science, Questionnaires, Correlation, Regression (Statistics), Foreign Countries, Factor Analysis, Likert Scales, Science Education, Science Teachers, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 10; Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A