The effects of beliefs about knowledge and learning on students' self-regulated studying

This study investigated the relationship between students' beliefs about knowledge and learning, and operations they used to study a text. Specifically, it examined the relationships among students' beliefs about knowledge and learning, their selection of learning tactics, their metacognitive processes, and achievement. Moreover, this study assessed the hierarchical structure of beliefs by investigating students' beliefs about knowledge and learning and their effect on students' learning at two levels: the general and the contextual level. Fifty undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory educational psychology course volunteered to participate in this study. Students completed the original and a contextualized version of the Epistemological Beliefs Inventory (EBI) to assess their general beliefs and their specific beliefs related to a particular area of inquiry (social psychology). Students' used gStudy, a software application that records traces of students' study tactics as they study, to study a chapter that represented different perspectives on the causes and prevention of aggression. Prior to the study session, students' verbal ability and prior knowledge about the chapter topic were tested. Following the study session, participants rated the chapter in terms of its interest, difficulty, and familiarity; and they responded to comprehension monitoring and comprehension monitoring standards surveys. Shortly after, participants wrote the knowledge test. Comparisons between students7 responses on the two forms of EBI supported the interpretation that students' beliefs are contextual. That is, students' hold epistemological beliefs about knowledge regarding a specific topic that differ from their general beliefs. Moreover, students7 contextual beliefs were found to be more related to their learning than their general beliefs. Results from multiple regression analyses and correlational analyses suggested interesting connections among the level of sophistication of beliefs about knowledge and learning, the use of generative and less-generative study tactics, high confidence about understanding of the study materials, the number and types of standards used in comprehension monitoring, and achievement on the knowledge test.