Research On Contextualization Of Teachers’ Scientific Epistemology

It is showed by a large amount of classroom observation that there exists a discrepancy phenomenon between teachers’beliefs about knowledge and knowing on science and their corresponding behaviors in teaching. In other words, teachers do not use one kind of belief whatever high or low about knowledge and knowing to guide their teaching stably. In contrast, teachers often present different beliefs about knowledge and knowing and teaching behaviors. Facing this specific phenomenon in teaching practice, the theory about personal epistemology which consider it as cognitive structures and personal epistemology that treats it as cognitive resources have different understandings about whether a teacher’s epistemology is contextual or de-contextualized. It is evident that the discrepancies between two kinds of theories are the different understandings about whether teachers’personal epistemologies have contextualization or not. Moreover, the discrepancies between two theories inevitably result into the different understandings on teachers’teaching practice and different developmental paths.Our research will put the phenomenon about teachers’ unstable epistemology in teaching practice at the logical outset and consider the discrepancy between two theories as the standpoint. As to the research methods, we will use several different research methods comprehensively including literature, observation, questionnaire, interview, comparison and analysis etc. Speaking of the research process, firstly, we select 116 science teachers in elementary school in the downtown and countryside of Chongqing altogether as our research subjects and put the reorganized Questionnaire about teachers’ scientific epistemology’>as one of research tools, which is used to investigate the subject teachers’de-contextualized scientific epistemology. Secondly, we use step sampling in which we select 30 subject teachers from 116 teachers with different levels of epistemology in questionnaire as the interview objects and use the <Contextual interview outline on teachers’scientific epistemology> as the other research tool to measure teachers’ epistemology in contextual interview. Finally, we use the SPSS 19.0 statistical software to survey and compare 30 sample teachers’ de-contextualized epistemology in questionnaire and contextual epistemology in interview which can tell us whether teachers’ scientific epistemology is contextual or not.We divide our research into seven parts. The first one is preface which introduces the research background, reviews of relevant research topic, definitions of central concepts, theory framework and the significance of research respectively. The second part is the design of our research in which we will focus our attention on several sections including research questions and hypotheses, research traces and methods, research sampling and tools etc. The third part is the investigation of teachers’ scientific epistemology in questionnaire in which we mainly introduce our survey from two aspects that are survey goals and methods and survey results and analysis respectively. In the fourth part, we focus our attention on interview goals and methods and interview results and analysis to introduce our contextual interview about teachers’ scientific epistemology. The fifth part is mainly the comparison and analysis of sample teachers’ two kinds of epistemology. The sixth part is our research conclusion and causes about teachers’ epistemology contextualization. In the seventh part, we will give some reflections and advice to the teacher scientific epistemology development based on our research results.The last part is the limitation of our research and how we deal with the limitations in our future research.Through the comparison and analysis of 30 sample teachers’ scientific epistemology in questionnaire and interview, we find that teachers’beliefs about science knowledge which include both of teachers’ beliefs on the resources of knowledge and the certainty of knowledge have significant contextualization while sample teachers’ beliefs about scientific learning mainly including the ability of learning science are de-contextualized.Facing the research results, we try to give several explanations based on the’frame theory’. First, there are abundant epistemological resources in teachers’ head which can formulate various epistemological frames and the diversity and fragility of epistemological frames in context decides the variety and transformation of teachers’ epistemology and teaching behavior in classroom. Second, the stability of traditional epistemological frame and fragility of advanced epistemological frame can fully explain the phenomenon of teachers’ transformation from high-level epistemology to low-level epistemology. Finally, the emphasis of learning ability in our tradition and the balance of views on science learning with the reform in curriculum which bring the thorough renovation of people’s views on nature of science can explain the results of teachers’ epistemology having no contextualization.Based on the above conclusion and cause analysis, we try to give some advice about how to promote teachers’ epistemology development as follows:First, reform in science education should go on encouraging teachers to renovate their scientific epistemology. Second, scholars in science education research should manage to formulate new trace to promote teachers’scientific epistemology. Finally, school administrator should reform their evaluation on teachers’teaching in science classroom.