The nature of scientific knowledge, knowing and learning: the perspectives of four physics students

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Abstract
The views on knowing and learning which students bring to school are likely to interact with other ideas in the ecology of the classroom. Yet little is known about these interactions. The present study was conducted to describe in detail students’ epistemological commitments and their concurrent views of knowing and learning physics. The study was interpretive, using multiple data sources to achieve a triangulation of data. Four students from a private high school for boys serve as paradigm cases representative of the diversity of views. The epistemologies of these students ranged from objectivist to radical constructivist. In spite of these differences, there were aspects of a constructivist learning environment which all four students liked, though for different reasons. It was concluded that the experiences in a constructivist learning environment are not enough to help students understand the tentative nature of scientific knowledge as long as their understanding is measured against the norms of canonical science. However, the wealth of student views provides a great potential for small‐ and large‐group discussion about the nature of scientific knowledge, knowing and learning. Thus, there appears to be a great potential for students to learn about the nature of knowledge from each other.