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Epistemic metacognition in context: evaluating and learning online information

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Abstract

This study examined epistemic metacognition as a reflective activity about knowledge and knowing in the context of online information searching on the Web, and whether it was related to prior knowledge on the topic, study approach, and domain-specific beliefs about science. In addition, we investigated whether Internet-based learning was influenced by epistemic metacognition and the individual differences examined. Seventy 8th grade students were interviewed retrospectively after searching for online information about the scientifically controversial topic of dinosaur extinction. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed. Findings showed that participants expressed reflections about the simplicity/complexity, certainty/uncertainty, source, and justification of knowledge at different levels of sophistication, according to three patterns of epistemic metacognition. Prior knowledge was not related to epistemic metacognition in the search context, while study approach and epistemic beliefs about science were associated significantly, although modestly, with aspects of online knowledge evaluation. Moreover, findings revealed that Internet-based learning was influenced by overall science-related epistemic beliefs. Learning from Internet sources was also affected by study approach and epistemic reflections about the justification of online knowledge, as well as by the interaction between beliefs about the justification of scientific knowledge and beliefs about the justification of the knowledge accessed concerning the topic.

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Notes

  1. In the literature, the constructs of approach to learning and approach to studying are used in an interchangeable way to refer to how students’ perform various school tasks and activities. The boundaries of the study activity are indeed fuzzy (Winne & Hadwin, 1998). In this paper we use the construct study approach as the students’ task was to learn more on the topic by searching, reading, and synthesizing information provided by Web pages. These activities are among the features that distinguish studying from the subsuming category of learning activities (Winne & Hadwin, 1998).

  2. In the epistemological beliefs literature, terms such as “sophisticated” and “naïve” or “more advanced” and “less advanced” are used. We retain them for reasons of clarity and not to attribute any unfortunate connotation to the terms. In accordance with Schommer-Aikins (2002), we think that what differentiates an advanced epistemological thinker from a less advanced one is, for example, that the belief in certain and simple knowledge is predominant in the latter and the exception in the former.

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Mason, L., Boldrin, A. & Ariasi, N. Epistemic metacognition in context: evaluating and learning online information. Metacognition Learning 5, 67–90 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-009-9048-2

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