The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation

Current research in science education and the cognitive sciences has highlighted the importance of epistemic tools in scaffolding learners to think in ways consistent with scientific practices. However, recent studies on epistemic tool have mainly focused on epistemic cognition, but not epistemic me...

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Main Author: Tang, Kok-Sing
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84689
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author Tang, Kok-Sing
author_facet Tang, Kok-Sing
author_sort Tang, Kok-Sing
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Current research in science education and the cognitive sciences has highlighted the importance of epistemic tools in scaffolding learners to think in ways consistent with scientific practices. However, recent studies on epistemic tool have mainly focused on epistemic cognition, but not epistemic metacognition. Epistemic metacognition, which operates at a meta-level targeted at our own thought processes concerning the source, nature, and justification of knowledge, is a crucial component that promotes and regulates epistemic development. The aim of this paper is to illuminate how an epistemic tool mediates and supports epistemic cognition and epistemic metacognition, and the difference between them. Drawing data from a design research study that introduced a specific epistemic tool called PRO (premise-reasoning-outcome) to describe the structure of a scientific explanation, this paper illustrates how PRO was used to facilitate the development of both epistemic cognition and epistemic metacognition. Specifically, epistemic metacognition was developed by using PRO with multiple metacognitive instructional approaches to: (a) highlight the epistemic connections between the various components of an explanation, (b) prompt questions that regulate one’s own thought processes, and (c) organize navigational markers that regulate key ideas linking the causality of an explanation. The findings from this study provide insights and evidence for a crucial theoretical link that is currently missing in our understanding of epistemic tools, epistemic cognition, and epistemic metacognition.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-846892021-09-28T03:45:07Z The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation Tang, Kok-Sing Social Sciences Psychology, Educational Psychology, Experimental Psychology SCIENCE CLASSROOM SELF-REGULATION DRIVEN INQUIRY STUDENTS ARGUMENT KNOWLEDGE MODEL Current research in science education and the cognitive sciences has highlighted the importance of epistemic tools in scaffolding learners to think in ways consistent with scientific practices. However, recent studies on epistemic tool have mainly focused on epistemic cognition, but not epistemic metacognition. Epistemic metacognition, which operates at a meta-level targeted at our own thought processes concerning the source, nature, and justification of knowledge, is a crucial component that promotes and regulates epistemic development. The aim of this paper is to illuminate how an epistemic tool mediates and supports epistemic cognition and epistemic metacognition, and the difference between them. Drawing data from a design research study that introduced a specific epistemic tool called PRO (premise-reasoning-outcome) to describe the structure of a scientific explanation, this paper illustrates how PRO was used to facilitate the development of both epistemic cognition and epistemic metacognition. Specifically, epistemic metacognition was developed by using PRO with multiple metacognitive instructional approaches to: (a) highlight the epistemic connections between the various components of an explanation, (b) prompt questions that regulate one’s own thought processes, and (c) organize navigational markers that regulate key ideas linking the causality of an explanation. The findings from this study provide insights and evidence for a crucial theoretical link that is currently missing in our understanding of epistemic tools, epistemic cognition, and epistemic metacognition. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84689 10.1080/07370008.2020.1745803 English ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD fulltext
spellingShingle Social Sciences
Psychology, Educational
Psychology, Experimental
Psychology
SCIENCE CLASSROOM
SELF-REGULATION
DRIVEN INQUIRY
STUDENTS
ARGUMENT
KNOWLEDGE
MODEL
Tang, Kok-Sing
The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation
title The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation
title_full The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation
title_fullStr The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation
title_full_unstemmed The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation
title_short The Use of Epistemic Tools to Facilitate Epistemic Cognition & Metacognition in Developing Scientific Explanation
title_sort use of epistemic tools to facilitate epistemic cognition & metacognition in developing scientific explanation
topic Social Sciences
Psychology, Educational
Psychology, Experimental
Psychology
SCIENCE CLASSROOM
SELF-REGULATION
DRIVEN INQUIRY
STUDENTS
ARGUMENT
KNOWLEDGE
MODEL
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84689