Personal Epistemology in Specific Contexts of Modeling and Reasoning
Hsin-Yi Chang
National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan

The issue that the general model of personal epistemology has multiple dimensions that may or may not be applicable in different disciplines or contexts has drawn much attention in recent research (Sandoval, Greene, & Brtåen, 2016). In this talk, two specific contexts in science education are focused on, namely, metavisualization and socioscientific reasoning. It has been found that fluent creation and uses of scientific models, representations, or visualizations require metavisualization (Hung, Chang, & Hung, 2019). However, the theory of metavisualization is still developing. In this talk, a model of metavisualization will be introduced that distinguishes and relates among constructs of metavisualization, visualization, metacognition, and epistemic knowledge of scientific modeling. The model was proposed based on a study investigating how and why a science teacher is a fluent user and an efficient teacher of working with visual representations. Meanwhile, reflections will be made on how the teacher’s metavisualization practice relates to epistemic cognition and how the model of metavisualization connects to the model of personal epistemology. Socioscientific reasoning is another context in science education that seems to heavily involve epistemic cognition. Specifically, a recent study on how students’ context-specific epistemic justifications may contribute to their socioscientific reasoning and engagement will be introduced and discussed. Finally, reflections on how the findings from the metavisualization and socioscientific reasoning studies provide insights into the model of personal epistemology will be made to spur further discussion and future collaboration.

Prof. Hsin-Yi Chang (National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan)