Epistemological thinking of college students: An engagement with the Perry Model

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Amelie Kanovsky

Abstract

William Perry, a psychologist from Harvard University, introduced a thinking model, which focuses on the behavior and success of students. The research that has been preformed specializes on epistemological thinking of college students. Nine different stages can be observed within Perry's thinking model. The success and truth of this thinking model has been proved through testing by several universities. Students responded to questions in order to observe their stages of thinking. Epistemology is a phenomenon that can be observed in the human brain and then categorized. Several researchers and developers followed Perry's model and enhanced it. Information on how the model has been tested on college students shows a simple classification of the students' brain development. When a student realizes that epistemological thinking is closely related to critical thinking, an improvement can happen almost immediately. College students' interpretations of literature and text analysis showed different brain abilities. Students were asked to interpret several readings in order to focus on the ability to think on their own. Supported studies showed that freshman students did not have a developed ability to draw specified conclusions on their own. Instead, a text interpretation of a person was recalled and rephrased. This shows that independent thinking skills of the students have not been fully developed yet.

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