| This study examines a 21st century theory of learning and cognition, Epistemic Frame Theory, which argues that expertise, such as the kind involved in complex thinking and problem solving, fundamentally involves diverse and dynamic connections between different forms of knowing and acting, guided by the norms and principles of a particular community.;In this dissertation, I consider the challenge of measuring and assessing epistemic frames using a new measurement tool, epistemic network analysis (ENA), which focuses on the patterns of relations between knowledge and other aspects of expertise as they are mobilized together in the discourse of complex practice.;The context for this investigation is science.net, a computer-supported role playing game in which young people take up the role of reporters-in-training and educational researchers take up the role of mentor editors in a simulation of a professional journalism practicum designed to help players begin to think like professional journalists.;Through epistemic network analyses of mentor and player discourse this experiment suggests the connections between the particular ways of knowing, doing, being, caring, and justifying that constitute an epistemic frame can be quantified and measured. In turn, this means epistemic frame theory can be tested, providing a more rigorous basis for the design of learning environments to better prepare young people for the complex demands of the future. |
