First-Year Teacher Education Students’ Epistemological Beliefs About Science and History: Domain-Specific Profiles and Relationships

Abstract

This study investigates the developmental levels of epistemological beliefs (EBs) about science and history among first-year teacher trainees (n = 146) through domain-specific questionnaires. A between-person analysis was used to examine the effect of academic studies and gender differences. Further, we employed a person-centred approach, k-means cluster analysis, to identify EB profiles for both domains. The results show that the impact of academic studies is greater on discipline-specific epistemological beliefs in history than in science, while the effect of gender is not significant in either area. We identified three EB profiles for both domains and found a significant positive correlation between the domain-specific EB profiles. A quarter of student teachers have a sophisticated profile in both science and history. Our research confirms the approach that individuals’ domain-specific epistemological beliefs develop in relation to domain-general beliefs. The results, in addition to contributing to a better understanding of the development of epistemological beliefs, also carry important implications for teacher education.