Education Majors and their Views about Physical Science: Searching for Shifts in Epistemological Beliefs after an Intensive Introductory Physics Course

Abstract

Education majors at the University of Southern Indiana must take a complement of 100 level courses in the physical and life sciences (PHYS 108, CHEM 108, BIOL 108, and GEOL 108). PHYS 108 serves as the first course in this required science sequence and was designed and implemented with a focus on content delivery and active-learning approaches in a combined lecture/laboratory environment. These ‘for educators’ courses are, for many students, the only college-level science courses that they will take. An important aspect of these courses should therefore be the understanding and appreciation of scientific investigation as a useful and important process for understanding the world around us. In order to gauge how the course affects students’ views about physical science and the nature of scientific knowledge, the Epistemological Beliefs Assessment for Physical Science (EBAPS) survey was administered to four sections of PHYS 108 as both a pre- and post-test in order to capture any shift in student beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning in the physical sciences. Data from this validated survey instrument will be examined and used to propose modifications to the course content and/or structure and direct further course development.