Michelle M. Buehl

• George Mason University

Supporting students’ reading competence (i.e., their comprehension and vocabulary) is complex, particularly when working with multilingual learners, and involves implementing instructional practices to support their behavioral engagement in reading as well as their reading motivation. The purpose of this mixed methods case study was to examine chan...

Vocabulary knowledge is a crucial element of reading comprehension. Academic vocabulary poses particular challenges for students and should be a focus of instruction, particularly for students from diverse language backgrounds. This study was part of a larger literacy in social studies intervention aimed at increasing students’ reading comprehensio...

We examined the impact of cognitive and motivation practices within a social studies literacy intervention (United States History for Engaged Reading [USHER]) on Grade 6 English learners’ (ELs) and non-ELs’ history reading comprehension, cognitive strategy use, reading self-efficacy, and reading engagement. We used a switching replications research...

Epistemic cognition represents aspects of teachers' thinking focused on issues related to knowledge, which may have particular relevance for classroom assessment practices given that teachers must discern what their students know and then use this information to inform instruction. We present a model of epistemic cognition in teaching with a focus...

Recent research has emphasized the key role of engagement in helping students succeed in school and beyond. Given the academic struggles that many English learners (ELs) face as they transition to middle school, exploring the facets of engagement in middle school ELs is needed. We established reader profiles for eight sixth grade Hispanic ELs and e...

Teachers’ beliefs shape their practice. Beliefs, conceptions held with enough personal conviction to be considered true, serve as helpful heuristics for teachers embedded in the complex, ever-changing contexts of classrooms and schools. Three sets of beliefs appear essential to teaching practice, namely, beliefs about teaching, knowledge (epistemic...

This article conveys the findings from 2 separate, but related, investigations designed to uncover students’ perceptions of reading and learning in middle school social studies as well as their engagement in this content area. Study 1 utilized semistructured interviews as an initial foray into understanding students’ perceptions of reading and lear...

The authors examined the role of an intervention designed to increase reading comprehension, reading self-efficacy beliefs, and engagement in social studies for middle school students of varying language backgrounds. Thirteen sixth- and seventh-grade teachers implemented the United States History for Engaged Reading (USHER) program with their stude...

In this investigation, we assessed 443 teachers’ beliefs with the Teaching Ability Belief Scale (TABS) and the Importance of Teaching Knowledge Scale (ITKS). Using cluster analysis, we identified four groups of teachers based on their responses to the TABS reflecting Innate, Learned, Hybrid, and Requires Polish perspectives on the ability to teach....

Given the increasing number of immigrant students in the USA initially schooled in Mexico, Central America, and South America, and the dearth of investigations examining the beliefs of teachers from Mexico, Central America, or South America, an exploration of Latin American teachers’ conceptions may inform policy-makers and researchers about teache...

• The research on teachers' beliefs, to our knowledge, spans more than 57 years and runs the gamut of research methodologies, theoretical perspectives, and identification of specific beliefs about any number of topics. In this chapter, we consolidate the topics of beliefs that have been addressed, reveal how teachers' beliefs are defined, and synth...

We describe the implementation of evolving concept maps in two different graduate-level educational psychology courses: “The Adolescent Learner” and “Theories of Learning and Cognition.” We provide an explicit description of how we used evolving concept maps as instructional and assessment tools in our respective classes, changes in the application...

Influenced by work on teacher beliefs, personal epistemology, teachers' knowledge, implicit theories , and motivation, we conducted a two-part investigation exploring preservice and practicing teachers' beliefs about teaching knowledge and teaching ability. Study I qualitatively examined 53 preservice and 57 practicing teachers' beliefs about teach...

The authors examined the factor structure of the long and short forms of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; M. Tschannen-Moran & A. Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001) for practicing (n = 102) and preservice teachers (n = 270), comparing the responses to both forms of the TSES, and looked for differences in teachers’ efficacy with respect to experience a...

The authors analyzed the open-ended responses of preservice (n = 53) and practicing (n = 57) teachers in terms of themes related to beliefs regarding the source and stability of teaching knowledge. Findings indicate that participants hold a range of beliefs regarding these constructs. Six themes related to the source of teaching knowledge emerged:...

Assessing Teachers ’ Beliefs 2 This manuscript details the development of two instruments to assess teachers ’ beliefs about pedagogical knowledge, specifically the Teacher Ability Belief Scale (TABS) and the Importance of Pedagogical Knowledge Scale (IPKS). The work presented here draws from two previous investigations of preservice and practicing...

Influenced by work on teacher beliefs, personal epistemology, teachers’ knowledge, implicit theories, and motivation, we conducted a two-part investigation exploring preservice and practicing teachers’ beliefs about teaching knowledge and teaching ability. Study I qualitatively examined 53 preservice and 57 practicing teachers’ beliefs about teachi...

Measurement is a critical issue in the study of individuals’ beliefs about knowledge. Given the prominence of the multidimensional conceptualization of epistemic beliefs, it is important to examine the multidimensional measures of beliefs more closely. An examination of literature reveals that although many studies have been conducted with the Scho...

Recent interest in epistemic beliefs has given way to a proliferation of new measures. Yet, little is known about the psychometric properties of various measures when used with diverse populations. In this study, the authors explored the psychometric properties of a measure of existing epistemic beliefs, the Domain-Specific Belief Questionnaire (DS...

With respect to the specificity and structure of epistemological beliefs, we contend that beliefs about knowledge are reflective of the multidimensional, multilayered, and interactive nature of knowledge. Here we present a model of the nested and reciprocal relations between domain-general and domain-specific epistemological beliefs. Additionally,...

Cluster analysis and analysis of variance procedures were used to identify students’ domain-specific epistemological belief profiles and to examine differences in students’ beliefs, motivation, and task performance. Four hundred eighty-two undergraduates completed measures regarding their beliefs about knowledge, competency beliefs, and achievement...

The authors examined knowledge, interest, and strategic processing profiles within special education for 4 educational communities. Participants included undergraduates not majoring in special education and undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from special education. Cluster analysis tested whether participants would exhibit the knowledge...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Maryland at College Park, 2003. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 335-362) Microfiche. s

A design experiment was undertaken to explore the effects of science lessons, framed as persuasion, on students’ knowledge, beliefs, and interest. Sixth and seventh graders participated in lessons about Galileo and his discoveries focusing on the personal costs and public controversies surrounding those discoveries. In selected classrooms, lessons...

This study explored the domain specificity of students' beliefs about academic knowledge in three related studies. Using a four-factor model as an initial framework, a series of domain-specific items about mathematics and history was developed. In Study I, these items were administered to 182 undergraduates, and the psychometric properties and unde...

This investigation explored why and how persuasion occurs. Toward this end, we examined the processing of two articles under conditions called for in the persuasion and conceptual change literatures. One unique aspect of the current study was the use of topic-specific measures of beliefs, knowledge (i.e., perceived and demonstrated), and interest....

Individuals' beliefs about knowledge (i.e., epistemological beliefs) have become the focus of inquiry in the educational and psychological literatures. Based on an analysis of those literatures, we first propose that epistemological beliefs are multidimensional and multilayered. That is, individuals possess general beliefs about knowledge, as well...

Undergrauate participants read both a one-sided text on educational reform and a two-sided nonrefutational text on the V-Chip. Students completed topic-specific beliefs, knowledge, and interest measures and reacted to specific text characteristics. The results indicated that although both forms of text affected readers, the effects varied by the ty...

The purpose of this review was to (a) overview prior knowledge research and its role in student performance, and (b) examine the effects of prior knowledge in relation to the method of assessment. We selected 183 articles, books, papers, and research reports related to prior knowledge. While prior knowledge generally had positive effects on student...

Investigates profiles of mature adult readers' who are persuaded by what they read, and what role a reader's educational level plays in the persuasion process. Finds that, for the most part, readers with moderate but favorable stances, moderate to high interest in the topic, and at least moderate levels of perceived or demonstrated knowledge were m...