The Relationships Between Epistemological Beliefs of Elementary Students and Their Problem Solving Abilities and Academic Achievement Levels

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between epistemological beliefs of elementary students and their levels of use of science content knowledge in daily problems and academic achievements in which an epistemological beliefs approach with four dimensions in accordance with contemporary models was occupied. The participants of the study were 61 elementary students. The study employed a Likert type questionnaire which was adapted to Turkish, a form composed of open ended problems and students’ average SBS points with their average academic grades. The data obtained were examined quantitatively for possible significant correlations between students’ epistemological beliefs and their problem solving abilities and academic achievements. The findings of the research yielded significant relationships between these variables which were found to be important since they were obtained by the use of different types of data sources and measurement processes. According to these findings, the importance of designing instruction that focuses on epistemological beliefs was underlined. Through such a process, it was anticipated that the students’ approaches to their learning experiences, instructional materials, learning strategies should be affected positively and proper environments for developing epistemological beliefs should also be constituted