This study aimed to explore the relationships between elementary students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs, learning approaches, self-regulated learning strategies, and their
science achievement. In this investigation, a model of the potential associations among these
variables was proposed and tested by using structural equation modeling. It was hypothesized
that (a) students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs would directly influence their learning approaches,
self-regulated learning strategies, and science achievement, (b) students&rsquo / adopted learning
approaches and their use of self-regulated learning strategies would be related with science
achievement, and (c) students&rsquo / learning approaches were expected to be related with their use
of self-regulated strategies. A total of 1240 seventh graders from 21 public elementary
schools throughout the Ç / ankaya district of Ankara completed measures designed to assess
students&rsquo / (a) epistemological beliefs (beliefs about the Certainty of Knowledge, Development
of Knowledge, Source of Knowing, and Justification for Knowing) (b) adopted learning
approaches (either rote or meaningful), (c) use of self-regulated learning strategies, and (d)
science achievement.
Separate confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine the structure of
students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs and their adopted learning approaches. While the factor
analyses of students&rsquo / responses to the epistemological beliefs questionnaire supported the
multidimensional nature of these beliefs, some features distinct from the findings of the
Western countries were identified. Socio-cultural influences were proposed to account for the
observed differences in the factor structure obtained with the Turkish sample.
The results of the structural equation modeling while supporting some of the proposed
hypotheses, contradicted with others. Epistemological beliefs emerged as a major contributor
to learning approaches and science achievement as expected, whereas those beliefs can not be
used as a predictor of self-regulated learning strategies. In addition, students&rsquo / adopted learning
approaches were found to be a predictor of their self-regulated learning strategies which in
turn influence the science achievement in the model. Contrary to the expectations, learning
approaches of the students were not found to be directly related with their science
achievement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12610168/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 November 2008 |
| Creators | Ozkan, Sule |
| Contributors | Tekkaya, Ceren |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for METU campus |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds