Dissertation Proposal Announcement Ph.D. in Education Program: Danielle Murphy “From Cognitive to Metacognitive: Elementary Students’ Engagement with Epistemic Criteria in Scientific Modeling”
This dissertation investigates elementary students’ engagement with epistemic criteria in the context of scientific modeling through three interconnected studies. While criteria are fundamental to scientific practice, research on young students’ understanding and application of these criteria, particularly in modeling, remains limited. Through analysis of fifth-grade students’ participation in a model-based inquiry unit, this research examines students’ cognitive and metacognitive dimensions of using, developing, and evaluating epistemic criteria. Study 1 explores students’ adherence to the criterion evidential fit when coordinating models with evidence. Study 2 investigates how teachers support students’ epistemic agency to articulate criteria for scientific models through meta-epistemic discussions as they develop and revise a class criteria list. Study 3 examines students’ metacognitive understanding of criteria importance through their meta-epistemic justifications of criteria on their class list. Findings reveal that elementary students engage with epistemic criteria in sophisticated ways: they systematically analyze and coordinate evidence with their models to establish evidential fit, participate meaningfully in developing modeling criteria when supported by teachers, and employ complex metacognitive reasoning to explain the relative importance of criteria which they employ to resolve epistemic disagreements. This progression from cognitive to metacognitive engagement suggests that young students meaningfully participate in meta-epistemic dimensions of scientific practice. The findings have important implications for science education, particularly in developing scientifically literate individuals who actively evaluate competing knowledge claims through reasoned consideration of epistemic criteria.