Browsing by Author "Grice, Marie"

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    Epistemic beliefs among upper-secondary students in education for sustainable development
    (2014) Grice, Marie; Institutionen för didaktik och pedagogisk profession, Göteborgs universitet/Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg
    This research project explores an educational context through two approaches. The first analyses the interpretability and role of the concept of sustainable development according to the writings of four syllabuses in the curriculum for Swedish compulsory school. Close reading of the syllabuses of Geography, History, Religious education and Civics rendered various demands of action-oriented knowledge development. Theoretical perspectives seem to be combined with implications of practical and action-oriented educational methods and goals. This aspect of action responsibility is more explicit in the syllabuses of Geography and Civics. As an analytical tool, thick and thin concepts understood as world-guided and action-guiding, were used to address education for rather than education about sustainable development. A Phronesian strategy is suggested by the authors to move students from a state of awareness to readiness and aptitude for action. Within such a holistic interpretation the development of knowledge is seen as a group process and the individual in balance with the welfare of others. The second approach is through an empirical study that sets out to answer two research questions. One of them concerns the dimensionality of epistemic beliefs among upper-secondary students involved in a transdisciplinary project called Food!, the other the relationship between the students’ evaluation of the project experience (outcome) and their epistemic beliefs. Following the tradition of Marlene Schommer a research instrument was constructed consisting of 26 domain-general items and 5 project-contextualized items. However, the current framework proposes only three dimensions: the structure of, the source of and the justification of knowledge. N=208 students from 14 upper-secondary schools and 2 folk high schools participated. Through exploratory factor analysis, support was indicated for five factors: transdisciplinary knowledge, certain knowledge, quick knowledge, collaborative knowledge and simple knowledge; followed by multiple regression analysis, in which three factors showed predictive power on the project outcome. For educational practice the awareness of the impact of epistemic beliefs on the outcome of the empirical context might motivate teachers to challenge their students and to discuss the epistemology of their specific school subjects. In addition teachers may rethink and expand their own conceptions of knowledge and knowing
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    Epistemic beliefs and conceptions of competence in education for sustainable development
    (2022-01-07) Grice, Marie
    Education for sustainable development (ESD) raises critical questions regarding what knowledge should be taught and what the learning outcomes should be. The aim of this thesis is to explore epistemological, ethical and critical dimensions of ESD. There are two empirical sites. One is a transdisciplinary educational project with upper-secondary Swedish students (n=208) from 16 different schools, the other involves teachers (n=158) at a large Swedish upper-secondary school implementing ESD. The research design is emergent, combining empirical and theoretical studies. A questionnaire instrument to explore students’ epistemic beliefs (personal theories of knowledge and knowing) was constructed. Exploratory factor analysis identified five dimensions: transdisciplinary, certain, quick, collaborative, and simple knowledge. These showed predictive power in a multiple regression analysis. Another instrument was constructed to examine teachers’ ESD competences. Four dimensions were identified. Wicked sustainability challenges require the individual, education and society to adopt new ways of thinking, learning and acting. Calls for transformation, supported by supranational organizations, have contributed to an increased focus globally on competence-oriented knowledge in curricula. Ethical competence, action readiness, and normative competence are nested concepts explored theoretically in this thesis. Philosophizing with is a central method, which invites epistemology as a voice into the analysis. Transdisciplinary and pluralistic ESD allow for ethical issues to surface in the classroom. It is theorized that an ESD teacher needs to be both morally sensitive and ready to transform didactics in the teacher-learner nexus. One conclusion is that students’ sophisticated epistemic beliefs may be important antecedents in transdisciplinary ESD. Another is that the element of action in the conceptualization of competence remains a critical aspect for educational research and practice.