(The results of the efforts below were ultimately published as [the first also receiving an international award as best conference paper 1993]:
Roth, W.-M., & Roychoudhury, A. (1994). Physics students' epistemologies and views about knowing and learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31, 5Ð30.
Roth, W.-M., & Roychoudhury, A. (1993). The nature of scientific knowledge, knowing, and learning: The perspectives of four students. International Journal of Science Education, 15, 27Ð44.)
(Instruction: Circle whether you agree, disagree, or have another opinion on each of the following statements.)
Question 5. The social environment of a scientist will not influence the content of the knowledge he or she proposes. (Agree Disagree Other)
(Instruction: All the above statements concerned science and scientific knowledge. In the space provided below, provide an explanation for your answers to the above questions.)
(Number in parentheses is student's code number.)
Question 5: Other
Question 5: Agree
Question 5: Disagree
CODE: TRICHOTOMY: Learning through Experimentation
COMMENT: For Understanding of Culturally mediated Framework
Examples and Source
These were some of the codes that I arrived at through open coding pertaining to group work, most often conducted as part of open-inquiry laboratories, but also as part of mind (concept) mapping.
(These assertions were arrived at by open coding, followed by axial coding.)
Assertion 1: When directly asked about the nature of scientific knowledge, its truth value, and its independence from human existence, a large number of students responded with views which are commensurate with an objectivist epistemology.
Assertion 2: A considerable number of students held views commensurable with a constructivist-relativist position when they talked about the presuppositions of, and social influence on, scientific knowledge.
Assertion 3: Students predominantly used metaphors with an implicit objectivist epistemology when they talked about learning science.
Assertion 4: There was a considerable number of students who concurrently held views on the nature of scientific knowledge commensurable with objectivism and views on the influence of social relations on new scientific knowledge commensurable with a constructivist-relativist position.
Assertion 5: The students view physics knowledge as consisting of three aspects, a mathematical and a conceptual, both of which are transmitted by textbooks, and an experiential rooted in everyday and laboratory experience.
Assertion 6: The students considered laboratory work as an important aspect of learning science. It gave them a great degree of autonomy in learning and fulfilled their needs for a meaningful integration of knowledge.
Assertion 7: The students experienced many benefits that arose from learning in groups such as synergistically arriving at better ideas, learning to negotiate meaning, learning to teach each other, efficiently completing tasks, and learning to teamwork.
(This diagram was arrived at through further selective coding and represents the grounded theory that we ultimately arrived at. The text exerpt that follows was part of the article in which the diagram appeared.)
Towards an Integration: A Grounded Theory
On the basis of the presented data, we derived a model for the students' conceptualization of physics knowledge and learning (Figure 1) which we discuss in the following paragraphs. At the top of the diagram we placed the continuum of epistemological commitments to which an individual's view of knowing and learning physics will be related. There are two major aspects of physics knowledge, CULTURAL and INDIVIDUAL. From the studentsÕ points of view, both the MATHEMATICAL and the CONCEPTUAL frameworks are culturally mediated and presented to them by TEACHERS and TEXTBOOK (on the left side in Figure 1). Students variously spoke of physics as "a frame of mind and a perception with which to regard facts," a conception of physics which is very close to Kuhn's (1970) notion of paradigm. Students indicated that the MATHEMATICAL and the CONCEPTUAL knowledge can be used in support of each other (see doted lines in Figure 1). Students with a good mathematical foundation used equations and formulae as efficient organizers of their knowledge. Remembering an equation (MATHEMATICAL), they regenerated the CONCEPTUAL base supporting it. There were also students who indicated that the conceptual physics knowledge underlying mathematical equations and procedures strengthened their understanding of the mathematical manipulations (bidirectional link). Through the subject of physics, mathematics had become concrete. Usually, this knowledge was mediated by using some form of TEXT, provided either by the TEXTBOOK, or by the TEACHER in the form of lectures and blackboard notes, or in additional readings. To acquire mathematical knowledge, MEMORIZATION of equations and much PRACTICE is needed. To know the conceptual knowledge well, many students felt they had to memorize. In any case, when physics knowledge is viewed as being transmitted by teachers and textbooks in the form of texts, students felt in a receiving mode which they disliked for learning the subject matter (impedes MOTIVATION).
(Excerpt from collection of statements on code EPISTEMOLOGY by one student)
At the time of the study, Paul ranked about 70 percentile at the grade level in his overall academic standing. His overall average was about one half standard deviation above the mean. In physics, his mark was only marginally below the course mean.
Epistemology
Paul clearly has a somewhat modified objectivist view of nature, science, and knowledge. Although he indicates that science is very precise, exact, rigid, with no margins of error, it does not show nature as it really is. There are aspects of nature that formulae and diagram cannot explain. Yet those aspects described by formulae and diagram are not left up to interpretation, such as the facts of history and English. Much of the world is very scientific. Alternate interpretations or different descriptions of the same reality are "very scary" to him. It is scary to know that there are no laws, if nothing is constant.
Paul holds that scientific laws and theories go hand in hand with human existance. In his view, the scientific endeavor is driven by a scientists commitment to man's betterment, the betterment of society and its ailments. Because of the needs of society, and the scientists need to conform, society has a definite impact on the knowledge wich search for in nature. In some cases, the society dictates to the scientist, through its institutions, what it wants the scientist to look for. Thus, in scientific endeavor there is a purposivness.
From these data it seems as if Paul was objectivist, with the knowledge being discovered because of the scientists purposive look for laws and theories to the betterment of human society. We found, however, a psychological strand in Paul's data that seemd to interact with the objectivist epistemology. Paul needed to conform to expectations, those of teachers, parents, and society. He didn't want to look "dumb." Thus, he was always looking for giving the right kind of response, the right answers in classes. There was also a pragmatic view for his choice of the subject. First, by choosing this subject, he could keep all his career options open. Then, in his view, many physics concepts are very important in today's society.
Knowing and Learning Physics
Paul had thought that sciences are linear, uni-dimensional, focused on mathematical representation, and problems. Sciences are taught using the textbook and teacher as reference. Both of these sources are seen as correct, because this is the only way of getting the A, 90%. This year, Paul has encountered a different sort of course in physics. It is multi-dimensional, developing mathematical, experiential, social, and writing skills. Physics to him takes on a much broader perspective.
His view of knowing and learning physics is portrait in Figure 1. There are two aspects to knowing and learning physics, a cultural and an individualistic. Through culture, the mathematical and conceptual aspects of the subject are passed on from one generation to the next. Teacher's notes and textbook are responsible to pass on the "correct" knowledge in the form of texts. These aspects, mathematical and conceptual have to be memorized as soon as they become abstract. Paul professes that only those things that you can actually see can be understood "If I can't see it, it doesn't exist to me," which leads to his memorization. He has aversions to working from the textbook. On the other hand, there is also an individualistic component to physics knowing and learning. This knowledge is acquired through experience in everyday life and in the laboratory. Through experiencing, particularly seeing, Paul feels that he can gain an understanding. Understanding the world is a real concern to him. This experience supports his effort to understand the concepts. He ascribes his improvement in mathematics to this experience and the practice of problems from the textbook.
The mathematical apsect of physics is frightening to Paul. He felt that he had always had some difficulties in mathematics, gets confused and panics when he sees word problems. When graphs are to be interpreted in the laboratory, he relies on his team mate. Equations and formulae have something unreal to them, something which is not tangible. Similarly with some of the concepts or phenomena. When he doesn't see them, he has problems seeing them for real. On the other hand, when he has visual contact through experience in the lab, Paul feels much more secure.
They say p equals v times this, you know, and then its really like it seems like almost imaginary . . . I can't picture it, it is not tangible . . . When we were doing the wave or electricity, the current goes through there. I can't really imagine current going through a wire and stuff like this . . . it doesn't seem real. . . . When you set [the experiment] up, you can actually visualize there is something to look at and you can see
Seeing things helps Paul to get a sense of security. Paul receives similar comfort when he is told by teachers, parents, or the society at large what the norms are for his behavior so that he can do it right.
Overall, although the evidence seemed to indicate that Paul simply was an objectivist, our investigation showed that matters were much more complex. Paul is plagued by an inherent insecurity of behaving according to standards and norms and an anxiety about things that are not certain. He may actually find something comforting in a subject which gives the impression to be exact, precise, and rigid.
The Constructivist Learning Environment Scale indicates that Paul scored above the class mean on three of the four scales. According to this information, one would argue that he has a clearly constructivist orientation to the lassroom environment. There seems to be a complex of attitudes, anxieties, beliefs which Paul brings to class which interact with the teaching-learning environment as conceptualized by the teacher. The task is not merely providing experiences that are based on a different epistemological framework, because it doesn't do anything to his other anxieties and fears.