THE INTERPLAY OF SCIENTIFIC EPISTEMOLOGICAL VIEWS, LEARNING-STRATEGIES, AND ATTITUDES OF COLLEGE-STUDENTS

This paper focuses on research that illustrates the important interplay between students' scientific epistemological views and their learning strategies. We address the problem of facilitating meaningful science learning as contrasted to rote memorization, which is practiced by many students and encouraged by instructional and evaluation practices. We show that when metacognitive tools are used to facilitate meaningful learning, positive consequences in learning of subject matter, attitudes toward science, and epistemological views can emerge. Positivistic epistemology continues to be the subtle enemy to encouraging meaningful learning and constructivist views of the nature of science and knowing.