Abstract

Educational psychologists have focused increasingly on the importance of learners’ cognitive processing and learning factors to enhance learners’ learning performance. The importance that beliefs about knowledge and knowing affect the depth of students’ learning was indicated. This study investigated the dimensions of beliefs about knowledge and knowing, discussed the validity for four-factor measures of beliefs about knowledge and knowing, and then examined the relationship between the beliefs and learning characteristics. This paper addressed the relationship of beliefs and characteristics in general learning by using the method of structural equation modeling for secondary school students (n = 412). The results suggested that students with sophisticated beliefs about knowledge and knowing had more positive learning characteristics.