Development of Personal Epistemology in Elementary Students

The study of personal epistemology shows that the combination of dimensions of objectivity and subjectivity is the foundation for understanding high-level epistemology. It is expected that individuals are initially objectivists and attain higher levels of transformation of beliefs to subjectivism, and ultimately promote a combination of objectivism and subjectivism. On the other hand, according to the researchers, the development of beliefs must be considered in relation to specific areas. The hypothesis was that this transformation occurs in a systematic sequence in various aspects of justification (experience, opinion, reason and authority). This hypothesis was accomplished with a sample of 64 students from the third grade to the sixth grade of primary schools in Tehran. The study method was descriptive causal comparative and the participants answered the questions of Mansfield and Clinchy’s Stories (2002). The results showed that there is a significant difference between the various educational foundations in terms of objectivity and subjectivity. So that the students of the third and fourth grades were more at the level of objectivity and fifth and sixth were more at the level of subjectivity. Also, the factor of experience explained 27% of the variance of objectivity and the factors of experience and opinion explained 30% of the variance of subjectivity. Personal epistemology seemed to be a developmental factor