Beyond epistemological deficits: Incorporating flexible epistemological views into fine-grained cognitive dynamics

Ayush Gupta

University of Maryland, Physics Education Research Group

Thursday, January 28, 2010, 3:30 PM
Room 385 Serin (East)

Researchers have argued against deficit-based explanations of students' troubles with mathematical sense-making, pointing instead to factors such as epistemology: students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning can hinder them from activating and integrating productive knowledge they have. But such explanations run the risk of substituting an epistemological deficit for a concepts/skills deficit. Our analysis of an undergraduate engineering major avoids this "deficit trap" by incorporating multiple, context-dependent epistemological stances into his cognitive dynamics.
Last modified: Mon Jan 11 09:56:20 2010
  Joel Shapiro