CONSTRUCTIVIST EDUCATION AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ONLINE AND FACE-TO-FACE HIGHER LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS By REBECCA J. PRUITT Bachelor of Arts in Child Care Administration Oklahoma Baptist University Shawnee, OK 1994 Master of Science in Family Relations and Child Development Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK 2000 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December, 2011 CONSTRUCTIVIST EDUCATION AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ONLINE AND FACE-TO-FACE HIGHER LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Dissertation Approved: Dr. Kathryn Castle Dissertation Adviser Dr. Pamela Brown Dr. Hongyu Wang Dr. Mona Lane Outside Committee Member Dr. Sheryl A. Tucker Dean of the Graduate College ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................2 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................6 Child Development ..................................................................................................6 Research Questions ..................................................................................................8 Significance of the Study and Possible Contributions .............................................9 Limitations of the Study.........................................................................................10 Reflexivity Statement.............................................................................................11 Definition of Terms................................................................................................11 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE..................................................................................16 Constructivism .......................................................................................................16 Cognitive Equilibrium ......................................................................................16 Piaget‟s Three Types of Knowledge .................................................................19 Social Construction of Knowledge ...................................................................19 Copy Theory vs. Theory Building ....................................................................21 Constructivist Education ........................................................................................22 Constructivism in Early Childhood Teacher Education ...................................24 Constructivism in Higher Education .................................................................31 Women‟s Ways of Knowing ..................................................................................33 Received ............................................................................................................36 Subjective ..........................................................................................................37 Learning Preferences of Women ......................................................................37 Online Higher Learning Environments ................................................................40 Growth ..............................................................................................................40 Quality...............................................................................................................41 Constructivism Online ...........................................................................................43 Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Class Discussion ............................................43 Conclusion .............................................................................................................45 III. METHODOLOGY ...............................................................................................46 Theoretical Framework ..........................................................................................47 iii Chapter Page Constructivist Education ...................................................................................48 Constructivist Processes....................................................................................50 Qualitative Methodology Rationale ........................................................................52 Research Context ...................................................................................................53 Participants ........................................................................................................53 Child Development ...........................................................................................54 Data Sources ..........................................................................................................57 Course Assignments..........................................................................................58 Qualitative Interview ........................................................................................63 Collection of Data ..................................................................................................64 Face-to-Face Section .........................................................................................64 Online Section ...................................................................................................65 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................68 Sensitizing Themes for Analysis ...........................................................................70 Trustworthiness ......................................................................................................71 Conclusion .............................................................................................................73 IV. FINDINGS: CONSTRUCTIVIST EDUCATION ...............................................74 Attending to the Individual ....................................................................................79 Respecting Developing Understandings ................................................................84 Facilitating Dialogue ..............................................................................................88 Facilitating Inquiry.................................................................................................98 Facilitating Meaningful Investigations ................................................................104 Introducing Disequilibrium ..................................................................................111 Summary and Comparison of Online and Face-to-Face ..................................... 114 V. FINDINGS: CONSTRUCTIVIST PROCESSES ................................................118 Women‟s Ways of Knowing Themes ..................................................................121 Childhood Struggles........................................................................................122 Balancing Life and School ..............................................................................124 Pleasing the Teacher: Face-to-Face ................................................................126 Pleasing Self: Online......................................................................................127 Frustration: Face-to-Face ................................................................................129 Self-Preservation: Online ...............................................................................131 Constructivist Process Themes ............................................................................132 Interest.............................................................................................................133 Questioning .....................................................................................................135 Thinking about Thinking ................................................................................139 Social Interaction ............................................................................................144 Cognitive Disequilibrium................................................................................150 Sense Making ..................................................................................................158 Theory Building ..............................................................................................166 iv Chapter Page Summary and Comparison of Online and Face-to-Face ............................................171 VI. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................174 Constructivist Education ......................................................................................176 Constructivist Processes.......................................................................................181 Epistemological Position and Constructivist Education ......................................184 Toward a New Teaching Philosophy ...................................................................186 Future Research Possibilities ...............................................................................190 Limitations of the Study.......................................................................................191 Significance of the Study .....................................................................................192