Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 32 Number 4

Edited by Diane McGrath, Kansas State University

formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

JRTE, Volume 32, Number 4, Summer 2000

The Experience of Constructivism: Transforming Teacher Epistemology

Bruce C. Howard and Steven McGee
Wheeling Jesuit University, NASA Classroom of the Future

Neil Schwartz
California State University, Chico

Steve Purcell
Bowling Green State University

Abstract

The NASA Classroom of the Future™ sponsored a residential training course to help teachers learn to use computer-based educational tools and explore constructivist instructional approaches. We hypothesized that creating a living-and-learning environment for the training would foster rapid changes in teachers’ epistemological beliefs. Pretest–posttest differences on an epistemology inventory indicated that teachers changed significantly on three of four factors related to constructivist teaching philosophies (Simple Knowledge, Quick Learning, and Certain Knowledge). The fourth factor (Fixed Ability) did not reveal significant changes. These findings have two implications: (1) constructivist approaches to training teachers may promote epistemological change, and (2) epistemology may be a less stable trait than was previously supposed.

Contributors

Bruce C. Howard, EdD, is an educational researcher for the Center for Educational Technologies™. In addition to teacher epistemology, his research interests include constructivist learning environments and self-regulation in computer-based learning.

Steven McGee, PhD, is senior educational researcher for the COTF.

Neil H. Schwartz, PhD, is a professor of psychology at California State University, Chico, and an associate professor of educational studies at the University of New England, Australia.

Steven Purcell, PhD, is an associate professor of advanced technological education at Bowling Green State University.

Address: Dr. Bruce Howard, Wheeling Jesuit University, Center for Educational Technologies, 316 Washington Avenue, Wheeling, WV 26003; howard@cet.edu.

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Copyright © 2000, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.