The Influence of Non-Epistemic Features of Settings on Epistemic Cognition

Situated theories of learning recognize the rules, tools, goals, and communities within which activities develop. Similarly, situated theories of epistemic cognition recognize that individuals’ ideas about knowledge are tentative and dependent on particular contexts. In this study, we bring these frameworks together and qualitatively examine how one high school student thinks about knowledge at the intersection between multiple settings while creating a documentary film about a socioscientific issue. We describe several non-epistemic features of settings that impact epistemic cognition, including time constraints, tool characteristics, and participation norms.