caa a22 4500 475789121 CHVBK 20180406123706.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170329e20000901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF03173183 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF03173183 Mason Lucia Departement of Psychological, Pedagogical and Didactic Sciences, University of Lecce, Via Stampacchia 45, 73100, Lecce, Italy aut Role of anomalous data and epistemological beliefs in middle school students' theory change about two controversial topics [Elektronische Daten] [Lucia Mason] The question of theory change is crucial in knowledge construction, particularly in the process of conceptual change. This study was designed to investigate two factors that, in addition to initial theory preference, may play a crucial role in the process of theory change, that is, students' interpretation of anomalous data on two controversial topics (the dinosaur extinction and the construction of the Giza pyramids in Egypt) and their epistemological beliefs about the nature of knowledge. Canonical correlation analyses suggested for both topics an association, stronger for the dinosaur extinction topic, between (a) acceptance of anomalous data (rated both as valid and inconsistent with the held theory), initial theory preference, epistemological belief in Certain Knowledge and (b) theory change. Data obtained from structure coefficients in canonical correlation analyses indicate that acceptance of anomalous data significantly contributed the most to theory change whereas the epistemological belief contributed the least. Finally, educational implications are drawn. Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon, Portugal/ Springer Netherlands, 2000 Anomalous data nationallicence Conceptual change nationallicence Epistemological beliefs nationallicence Theory change nationallicence European Journal of Psychology of Education Springer Netherlands 15/3(2000-09-01), 329-346 0256-2928 15:3<329 2000 15 10212 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173183 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173183 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Mason Lucia Departement of Psychological, Pedagogical and Didactic Sciences, University of Lecce, Via Stampacchia 45, 73100, Lecce, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- European Journal of Psychology of Education Springer Netherlands 15/3(2000-09-01), 329-346 0256-2928 15:3<329 2000 15 10212 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer