Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 100 de 957
Table 2: Items of Beliefs about Engineering Knowledge and Knowing
Ontological Beliefs: Beliefs about the Nature of Engineering
Reality
Ontological beliefs are defined as beliefs about the nature of reality. Several studies have
examined ontological beliefs using qualitative methods, such as think-alouds, interview
techniques, and content analysis of verbal explanations (Slotta & Chi, 2006, Gupta et al.,
2010; Hammer et al., 2011). In this paper, we begin with the definition of ontological
beliefs by assuming that each type of belief exists on a continuum that ranges from realist
to relativist endpoints. Realism refers to the fact that entities or phenomena (e.g.
knowledge) exist and can be understood and explained to some degree, even though
experts do not understand that phenomenon. Idealism asserts that entities may exist in an
everchanging manner (e.g. the changing nature of human rights), or that we can never
know with certainty whether something exists. In educational settings, a realist educator
would be more likely to assume a universal curriculum, as one underlying reality that is
transmitted to students via a knowledgeable teacher regardless of students' individual
circumstances and context. An idealist educator would be more likely to assume that
different people have different realities. From this perspective, while each student
constructs knowledge, a teacher can play a role of collaborator, co-participant, and
facilitator to meet the individual needs of students (Schraw & Olafson, 2002). Considering
the natural problem solving culture of engineering, pragmatism can also be discussed as a
method that welcomes multiple approaches in designing and testing solutions rather than
requiring rigid adherence to a single ontological paradigm. In a sense then, we have added
a radical position, as an ontologically neutral position assigned between realism and
relativism as polar opposites on the continuum with respect to the role of reality (Ernest,
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011