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Original Article

Where do pre-service teachers' educational psychological misconceptions come from?

The roles of anecdotal versus scientific evidence

Published Online:January 07, 2021https://doi.org/10.1024/1010-0652/a000299

Abstract

Abstract. Previous research has found a high prevalence of some (educational) psychological misconceptions (i.e., incorrect but often popular assumptions that contradict results from psychological research) among (pre-service) teachers. However, the number of topics that have been investigated is limited. Additionally, knowing the sources of misconceptions might be helpful for rebutting them. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence has been found to be important for informing (pre-service) teachers' practice, but personal experiences also are among the main sources of misconceptions. Therefore, we hypothesized that pre-service teachers would predominantly view sources of anecdotal evidence as the origin of their educational psychological beliefs in general and the main source of their misconceptions in particular. In an online survey (with correlational and quasi-experimental elements) of N = 836 pre-service teachers, we found that educational psychological misconceptions were less prevalent than expected but that pre-service teachers indeed mainly based their beliefs on sources of anecdotal evidence (personal experiences and narratives from other people) and that these nonscientific sources turned out to be the main sources of their misconceptions (comparison with scientific sources: d = 0.19 and d = 0.23). Furthermore, referring more to sources of anecdotal than scientific evidence (research and lectures) was associated with undesirable aspects, that is, more misconceptions (d = 0.21) and less reduction of misconception endorsement through empirical refutation-style information (d = 0.30) but not with a lower judgment of the view that it is possible to examine educational psychological topics scientifically. In sum, our results indicate that basing one's beliefs more on sources of anecdotal than scientific evidence is associated with outcomes that stand in contrast to evidence-based education. Future research should investigate why pre-service teachers concentrate on sources of anecdotal evidence, how to make sources of scientific evidence more tempting, and whether counteracting misconceptions by showing the downside of nonscientific sources is effective.


Woher kommen pädagogisch-psychologische Fehlvorstellungen von Lehramtsstudierenden? Die Rolle anekdotischer und wissenschaftlicher Evidenzen

Zusammenfassung. Bisherige Forschung weist auf eine hohe Prävalenz einiger (pädagogisch-)psychologischer Fehlvorstellungen (d.h. einem Glauben an falsche und verbreitete Annahmen, die wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen der Psychologie widersprechen) unter (angehenden) Lehrkräften hin. Allerdings ist die Anzahl der bisher untersuchten Themen begrenzt. Darüber hinaus kann es für die Bekämpfung von Fehlvorstellungen hilfreich sein, deren Quellen zu kennen. Da anekdotisches Wissen für professionelle Entscheidungen von (angehenden) Lehrkräften eine große Rolle spielt und persönliche Erfahrungen zu den am meisten genannten Quellen von Fehlvorstellungen gehören, nahmen wir an, dass angehende Lehrkräfte grundsätzlich vor allem anekdotische Quellen als Basis ihrer pädagogisch-psychologischen Überzeugungen nennen würden und sich diese auch als Hauptquelle ihrer pädagogisch-psychologischen Fehlvorstellungen im Speziellen erweisen würden. In einer Online-Befragung (mit sowohl korrelativen als auch quasi-experimentellen Elementen) an N = 836 Lehramtsstudierenden fanden wir einerseits, dass pädagogisch-psychologische Fehlvorstellungen weniger verbreitet waren als angenommen. Andererseits zeigte sich, dass die Lehramtsstudierenden ihre Überzeugungen tatsächlich hauptsächlich auf anekdotische Quellen (eigene oder stellvertretende Erfahrungen) zurückführten und dass sich diese auch als die Hauptquelle ihrer Fehlvorstellungen herausstellten (Vergleich mit wissenschaftlichen Quellen: d = 0.19 bzw. d = 0.23). Zusätzlich fanden wir, dass die vermehrte Nennung von anekdotischen Quellen im Vergleich zu wissenschaftlichen Quellen (Publikationen und Lehrveranstaltungen) als Ursprung von Überzeugungen mit unerwünschten Aspekten einherging, nämlich mit mehr Fehlvorstellungen (d = 0.21) und mit einer geringeren Reduktion von Fehlvorstellungen durch empirische widerlegende Texte (d = 0.30) – jedoch nicht mit einem geringeren Glauben an die wissenschaftliche Untersuchbarkeit pädagogisch-psychologischer Themen. Unsere Ergebnisse deuten insgesamt darauf hin, dass ein vermehrtes Verlassen auf anekdotische im Vergleich zu wissenschaftlichen Quellen mit Aspekten assoziiert ist, die in Kontrast zu evidenzbasierter Bildung stehen. Zukünftige Forschung sollte untersuchen, weshalb sich angehende Lehrkräfte auf eigene oder stellvertretende Erfahrungen konzentrieren, wie man wissenschaftliche Quellen ansprechender gestalten kann und, ob eine Bekämpfung von Fehlvorstellungen durch das Aufzeigen von Nachteilen nicht-wissenschaftlicher Quellen effektiv ist.

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