Effect of authentic research experiences on nature of science beliefs
Date
2012-12Author
Morphew, Jason Wade
Advisor
Schommer-Aikins, MarleneMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between authentic
research experiences and the nature of science (NOS) beliefs of graduate students. Fifty
graduate students employed as assistants at a large Midwestern University completed the
Views on Science and Education Questionnaire developed by Chen (2006), a survey of
their research experiences, and demographic information. Measures were taken to assess
the graduate students NOS beliefs, the number of research experiences, the types of
activities engaged in during the research experiences, and the epistemic demand of the
graduate students’ research activities. Descriptive statistics were presented and
discussed. The results were analyzed using a Pearson correlation to determine the
relationship between number of research hours and NOS beliefs, as well as the number of
types of research experiences and NOS beliefs. The results were also analyzed using a
multivariate step wise regression, with the epistemic demand of the research experience
as one of the predictor variables and NOS beliefs as the criterion variables, to determine
whether the nature of the research experience affects the relationship between research
experiences and NOS beliefs. Implications of the findings and limitations of the research
were discussed.
Description
Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational and School Psychology