Abstract of Keynote Speech

Epistemic Cognition Concerning Sources of Knowledge: Antecedents, Consequences, and Educational Implications
Ivar Bråten
University of Oslo, Norway

Thinking about sources of knowledge has been considered a central dimension of personal epistemology for decades. Arguably, this dimension is more important than ever due to the abundance of easily accessible information on almost every issue that characterizes the 21st century. In this talk, I will discuss epistemic cognition concerning sources of knowledge in the context of textual discourse, defining this aspect of epistemic cognition as attending to, representing, evaluating, and using available or accessible information about the sources of knowledge claims presented in written documents. I will discuss how thinking about sources of knowledge varies with individual and contextual factors, as well as how critical evaluation of sources may impact people’s understanding of complex, controversial issues discussed across multiple documents. Finally, I will discuss educational implications and argue that designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions to promote adaptive epistemic cognition concerning sources of knowledge is an important research agenda within personal epistemology.


Keynote Speaker

Prof. Ivar Bråten (Department of Education, University of Oslo, Norway)

Ivar Bråten is a professor of educational psychology in the Department of Education at the University of Oslo, Norway, where he is the head of the research group on Text Comprehension - Development, Instruction, and Multiple Texts (TextDIM). He is currently directing the project Understanding and Promoting Upper-Secondary School Students’ Critical Reading and Learning in the 21st Century Information Age, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, addressing how critical source evaluation skills develop among students and the importance of such skills to learning processes and learning outcomes. His publication list totals more than 300 titles, including nine authored or edited books and approximately 125 international peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, co-authored with 50 different scholars from 8 different countries. He currently serves on the editorial review boards of Contemporary Educational Psychology, Learning and Individual Differences, Learning and Instruction, and Metacognition and Learning, and is a co-editor of the recent Handbook of Epistemic Cognition (Routledge, 2016).