Exposing and assessing learners' epistemic thinking

The conceptualization of students' personal epistemologies has been criticized for being inconsistently defined, overly simplistic, and inappropriately decontextualized. Broadly, epistemic cognition encompasses explicit thoughts about the nature of knowledge as well as reasoning processes related to knowledge claims and justifications. Learning scientists are invested in understanding epistemic cognition in a variety of authentic settings, but it is challenging to analyze data in meaningful epistemic categories. Participants in this workshop will briefly discuss varied conceptualizations of epistemic cognition and will focus on how to apply these conceptualizations to empirical research. We will explore empirical methods that extend beyond traditional interview and questionnaire methods to better expose authentic, ongoing epistemic thinking. Presentations and discussions will explore means of revealing epistemic thinking in classrooms and other settings and methods of analyzing data from learners' interactions and discourse. A primary goal of the workshop is to foster collaborative, interdisciplinary future work.