1 Towards a deeper understanding of epistemic beliefs development: The contribution of threshold concepts and implications for understanding the ways of knowing and being of experienced educational developers Julie A. Timmermans Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology McGill University, Montreal November 2011 A dissertation submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology © Julie A. Timmermans 2011 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have had the privilege of great company for the journey of completing this dissertation. My life has been enriched in so many ways by knowing and working with my supervisor, Dr. Cynthia Weston. Cynthia, my graduate school experience has been stimulating, exciting, and fulfilling thanks to your expert guidance. Your thoughtful questions and feedback have encouraged me to clarify my assumptions and explore new directions for my thinking. I am also deeply grateful for your support of my decisions to make time for (new) life during my studies. You are a model of intelligence, integrity, and grace, and I would be honoured if, one day, someone were to compare me to you. I am grateful to Dr. Alenoush Saroyan for inspiring me to do my best work. Alenoush, you are a model of an intelligent, articulate, and thoughtful professor. Your expert teaching and advising have encouraged rigorous and creative thinking. I came away from your courses feeling transformed as a scholar. I am also deeply grateful for the steadfast support you have shown for my work throughout my doctoral studies, supporting my grant proposals and fellowship applications. It is an honour to have Dr. J. H. F. Meyer as a member of my dissertation committee. Erik, I thank you for the many enriching exchanges we have had during the past few years. Your ideas and feedback have propelled my thinking forward, and your encouragement has given me the confidence to take my work in new directions. I look forward to many opportunities to collaborate with you. My graduate student colleagues, several of whom have completed their studies and are now contributing even further to improving education, have inspired me with their dedication and tenacity: Denis Berthiaume, Kevin Chin, JaeHoon Han, Marian Jazvac Martek, Krista Ritchie, and Yanfei Zhou. Camelia Birlean and Aliki Thomas, I thank you for providing inspiring models of women who successfully integrate their love for their work with their love for their small children. To my colleagues and friends at Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) at McGill University: Cynthia Weston, Laura Winer, Audrey-Kristel Barbeau, Susan Cowan, Jennie Ferris, Adam Finkelstein, Andrée Ippersiel, Effi Kaoukis, Mary-Jo Rahal, Marcy Slapcoff, Nancy St-Pierre, David Syncox, Mariela Tovar, and Pierre-André Vungoc, you have provided me, for many years now, with a 3 welcoming place to work, stimulating conversations, encouragement during challenging times, and friendship for celebrating life’s many wonderful moments. I continue to be inspired by your commitment to educational development and your willingness to share your lives and ideas with me. I am indebted to the experienced educational developers who participated in my study. Their vision of educational development is truly inspirational, and it was a great privilege to gain a window into their ways of making meaning of work about which they are so obviously passionate. I am touched that they took time away from their many commitments to speak to me. The insights gained from our conversations are a gift as I begin my career. I am very grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) for generous grants provided in support of my doctoral research. Writing a dissertation is infinitely more enjoyable over a cup of coffee and a delicious dessert. I am grateful to the owners of the Second Cup Cafés on McGill College St. in Montreal and on Cousineau Blvd in St. Hubert for creating inviting spaces in which to think and work. The way in which you approach your work is an important lesson in understanding the needs of others and knowing how best to serve them. The Second Cup also brought me my good friend Gerry. What a pleasure it has been to see your smiling face and hear your booming voice at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Your enthusiasm for life and for ideas is infectious. Your kindness and curiosity about my work will not soon be forgotten. I look forward to having a conversation with you where we are both sitting at the same table. My neighbours, Joe and Jean Sinclair have taught me what it means to be a good neighbour. There is no other couple with whom I’d rather share a front porch. For the many occasions on which you came knocking on our door bearing gifts of warm, delicious food for my family, I thank you. Your thoughtfulness allowed us to have healthy, home-cooked meals and provided me with precious additional time to work. 4 My parents, Marie and Emile Timmermans were my first teachers. They taught me to love books, to love ideas, to love learning. They have supported my educational endeavours, even when it meant sacrificing their own comfort. They have celebrated every success and made me feel that excelling in school is an accomplishment of which to be proud. I hope that I will succeed in passing on this love of learning to my own children. Mom, since becoming a mother myself, I have come to love and understand you in a new way. For all the weeks that you stayed with us and so lovingly took care of us, helping us to remain sane during the last few months of writing this dissertation, we are so deeply grateful. You are my model of a woman full of purpose driven by sound values. Joshua and Chloé are so fortunate to have you as their grandmother. My big little Joshua, at five years old and not yet four feet tall, you have already taught me three important lessons: to recognize my limits; to use this awareness to understand the potential for growth that lies beyond; and that great teachers come in the unlikeliest of forms, if we can only be wise enough to hear their message. You are a lively boy, full of confidence and charm. And my lovely baby, Chloé, how is it that someone so young can already be so fully her own person? You are simply a gift of joy – sweet and yet so full of spunk. What a privilege it is to be your mother. I have struggled with how to express my gratitude to my wonderful husband, Éric Chagnon. Words cannot capture how blessed I feel to have such an incredible human being as my partner and best friend. Éric, you have treated my dreams as your own, patiently accompanying me in this long journey. You have given up meetings, karate classes and canoe expeditions, so that you could take care of our family while I did my work. You have taught me what it means to love unselfishly. Finally, I dedicate this dissertation to my incredible and unforgettable Grandmother, Lena Machado, who without a university degree, without even a high school degree, made greater contributions to the world through her love, faith, and service than anyone I know. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………………… 2 Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………………5 List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………………………..9 List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………………...10 Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………….11 Résumé …………………………………………………………………………………………..13 Contribution of Authors …………………………….…………………………………………...15 Introduction to the Dissertation …………………………………………………………………16 References …………….…………………………………………………………………20 Manuscript 1: Towards an Explanation Epistemic Beliefs Development……………………….21 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………...21 What is Development? On the Motion of Evolution ……………………………………25 What is Developing and to What End? The Search for Essence and End Points ……….27 What is Development? The Principles of Emergence, Self-Organisation, and Nested Hierarchies ………………………………………………………………….32 What is a Stage? On Balance and Evolutionary Truces ………………………………...38 On the Dialectical Process of Balance Construction ……………………………………42 Towards the Elaboration of a Mechanism of Change …………………………………...45 Concluding Thoughts ……………………………………………………………………57 References ……………………………………………………………………………….58 Bridging Text between Manuscripts 1 and 2: Understanding Transitions Between Stages in the Development of Epistemic Beliefs: The Promise of Threshold Concepts ……………………… ..67 References ……………………………………………………………………………….69 6 Manuscript 2: Changing our Minds: The Developmental Potential of Threshold Concepts.........70 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………...70 Underlying Assumptions ………………………………………………………………..71 Preliminal Variation, or, On Balance ……………………………………………………72 Troublesomeness, or, On Dissonance …………………………………………………...78 Transformativeness, or On Opening Up of Epistemological, Conceptual, and Affective Spaces …………………………………………………………………….80 Irreversibility, or, On Crossing Thresholds ……………………………………………..82 The Integrative Nature of Threshold Concepts, or On Integration ……………………...83 Boundedness, or On Considering Context ………………………………………………84 Concluding Thoughts ……………………………………………………………………86 Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………...86 References ……………………………………………………………………………….87 Bridging Text between Manuscripts 2 and 3: On the Issue of Irreversibility in the Development of Epistemic Beliefs………………………………………………………………92 References ……………………………………………………………………………….97