TY - JOUR
T1 - Undergraduate Science Students’ Scientist–Practitioner Gap
T2 - the Role of Epistemic Curiosity and Cognitive Flexibility
AU - Hong, Jon Chao
AU - Hwang, Ming Yueh
AU - Szeto, Elson
AU - Tai, Kai Hsin
AU - Tsai, Chi Ruei
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by the “Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences” of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - The scientist–practitioner gap refers to the phenomenon of individuals with a scientific background exhibiting non-scientific beliefs. Informed by the social-cognitive process model, this study aimed to develop a more coherent understanding of how such non-scientific beliefs can be predicted by individuals’ cognitive flexibility mediated by their epistemic curiosity. A questionnaire was administered to 332 undergraduate students majoring in science at 2 universities in Taiwan. It included items on cognitive flexibility, 2 types of epistemic curiosity, and non-scientific beliefs. After the reliability and validity of the items and constructs were validated, structural equation modeling was applied to verify the research model. Results indicated that the 2 types of epistemic curiosity, interest-type and deprivation-type, were positively predicted by cognitive flexibility but were negatively reflected in the students’ non-scientific beliefs. The study also tested the gender difference for each factor and found that female students majoring in science tended to have stronger non-scientific beliefs than their male counterparts. The results imply that if a higher level of cognitive flexibility is attained, the scientist–practitioner gap may be reduced.
AB - The scientist–practitioner gap refers to the phenomenon of individuals with a scientific background exhibiting non-scientific beliefs. Informed by the social-cognitive process model, this study aimed to develop a more coherent understanding of how such non-scientific beliefs can be predicted by individuals’ cognitive flexibility mediated by their epistemic curiosity. A questionnaire was administered to 332 undergraduate students majoring in science at 2 universities in Taiwan. It included items on cognitive flexibility, 2 types of epistemic curiosity, and non-scientific beliefs. After the reliability and validity of the items and constructs were validated, structural equation modeling was applied to verify the research model. Results indicated that the 2 types of epistemic curiosity, interest-type and deprivation-type, were positively predicted by cognitive flexibility but were negatively reflected in the students’ non-scientific beliefs. The study also tested the gender difference for each factor and found that female students majoring in science tended to have stronger non-scientific beliefs than their male counterparts. The results imply that if a higher level of cognitive flexibility is attained, the scientist–practitioner gap may be reduced.
KW - Cognitive flexibility
KW - Epistemic curiosity
KW - Non-scientific beliefs
KW - Scientist–practitioner gap
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U2 - 10.1007/s10763-020-10096-4
DO - 10.1007/s10763-020-10096-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85085341434
SN - 1571-0068
VL - 19
SP - 899
EP - 913
JO - International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
JF - International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
IS - 5
ER -