Developmental Systems of Students' Personal Theories About Education

Abstract

Children hold many personal theories about education: theories about themselves, knowledge, and the learning process. Personal theories help children predict what their actions will cause, and therefore relate to motivation, self-regulation, and achievement. Researchers typically examine how specific types of personal theories develop independently, but the similarities among personal theories suggest more systematic developmental processes. Accordingly, this article outlines a developmental systems model to organize existing personal theories research. We first identify and define personal theories related to education and then consider the nature of their development as a coherent, hierarchical structure that is shaped through educational experiences. This model provides parsimony while advancing a number of fields by providing clarity of concepts, insight across fields, and a better understanding of development and educational outcomes. We conclude by proposing new directions to understand how holistic sets of personal theories change over time and considering implications for educational interventions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article was based on a master's thesis submitted by Michael Barger to Duke University. We thank Jeffrey A. Greene, Mark R. Leary, and Makeba P. Wilbourn for their helpful feedback on earlier versions of this article. We also thank Editor Kathryn R. Wentzel and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback.

FUNDING

This manuscript was prepared with the support of a Summer Research Fellowship from the Duke University Graduate School.

Notes

¹ Occasionally, some researchers (Dweck, 1999; Dweck & Molden, 2005) have referred to beliefs about the nature of ability as self-theories. These are distinguished throughout the article as theories about ability, intelligence, or learning, and not as self-theories, which we use to describe theories specifically about one's academic self.

² Some might consider beliefs about knowing in this category, as they deal not with some external knowledge but about the process of knowing. Although there is not a clear line dividing these two categories, beliefs about how knowledge is justified still center more on how knowledge itself is created as opposed to how knowledge is transferred to the self. Therefore, we group these with personal theories about knowledge and not learning.