Teachers encounter new knowledge every day, and their opinions on this new knowledge influence not only their own methods for gaining new knowledge but also those of their students. Research on how an individual perceives knowledge began with Perry’s (1970) research on the longitudinal development of the ethical and intellectual development of Harvard University students in the United States, and the study of “epistemic cognition” in the field of educational psychology developed this concept further. Epistemic cognition is the exploration of how individuals think about, use, and understand the knowledge they possess. 

The term “approaches to learning” refers to the intention of learners when they encounter new content in learning situations and the learning strategies they adopt. Marton and Säljö’s (1976) exploration of the correlation between how Swedish college students read scientific papers and their learning outcomes opened up a new avenue for academic research on this theme. 

Learners who adopt a “deep approach” to learning do so because they want to understand their inner motivation for learning and thus exhibit a high level of engagement in the learning process. These learners use different learning strategies to link their previous learning experiences to their studies, thereby developing a system of structured knowledge. By contrast, learners who adopt a “surface approach” to learning are often compelled by extrinsic motivation. They are therefore less active learners, opting for the regurgitation over internalization of knowledge; thus, they are unable to develop a structured knowledge system. 

A teacher´s teaching concept influences the design of their teaching activities and their choice of teaching strategies, thereby affecting their teaching effectiveness. Teachers who adopt the concept of constructivist teaching consider the main purpose of teaching to be the establishment of an appropriate learning environment that supports students in the active development of knowledge. In such a classroom, the task of students is to play a role similar to that of a scientist and to construct knowledge using exploratory methods of their own. By contrast, teachers who adhere to traditional teaching concepts consider the purpose of teaching to be the transfer of knowledge to students. The task of students in this type of classroom is to absorb the knowledge passed on by their teacher. 

According to Kang (2008), teachers and students who believe that knowledge is certain and should be passed on by authority figures tend to advocate for teaching concepts of traditional pedagogy. Chan (2003) discovered that those with innate abilities tend to adopt a surface learning approach whereas those who learn assiduously are inclined to adopt a deep learning approach. Baeten et al. (2016) reported that the scores of those who use deep learning approaches are significantly and positively correlated with the scores obtained using student-centered teaching concepts. 

On the basis of the preceding literature review, this study proposed the following three hypotheses: 

H1: The epistemic cognition of elementary preservice teachers would exert a significant influence on their teaching concepts. 

H2: The epistemic cognition of elementary preservice teachers would exert a significant influence on their approaches to learning. 

H3: The epistemic cognition of elementary preservice teachers would exert a mediating effect on teaching concepts through approaches to learning. 

This study analyzed 201 valid responses to a pretest and 581 valid responses to a the questionnaire test proper. Four research instruments that all had 5-point Likert scales were used in this study: The Epistemic Cognition Scale, Deep Learning Approach Scale, Surface Learning Approach Scale, and Constructivist Teaching Scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on all four scales to test the construct validity, and the reliability of each scale was tested using Cronbach α coefficients. The α coefficients obtained for the four subscales of the Epistemic Cognition Scale were between .64 and .76, those for the four subscales of the Deep Learning Approach Scale were between .60 and .73, those for the four subscales of the Surface Learning Approach Scale were between .66 and .92, and those for the two subscales of the Constructivist Teaching Scale were both .86. The reliability and validity tests of the four scales thus had good reliability and validity. 

In this study, mediation was tested for using structural equation modeling in MPLUS 8.4 statistical software. The results supported H1 and H2 but not H3. 

The results reveal that the epistemic cognition of elementary preservice teachers directly affects their conception of constructivist teaching. Thus, when the epistemic cognition of preservice teachers leans toward a diverse view of knowledge and when the teachers believe that individuals can construct knowledge on their own, they tend to adopt a constructivist teaching approach, which is student centered. The epistemic cognition of elementary preservice teachers directly affects their approach to learning. Therefore, these teachers tend to adopt deep learning approaches that connect new knowledge to past experiences. However, when the epistemic cognition of preservice teachers tends toward the view that knowledge comes with binary right–wrong answers and is transmitted by authority, teachers tend to adopt surface learning approaches, which involve regurgitation. 

The results of this study also indicate that the epistemic cognition of elementary preservice teachers affects their approach to learning and constructivist teaching concepts, and if elementary preservice teachers know how to adopt a deep learning approach, they are better able to form a constructivist conception of teaching. Elementary preservice teachers become elementary school teachers, and the epistemic cognition of elementary school teachers not only affects their own approach to learning and teaching concepts but also the epistemic cognition of their students. Therefore, teacher-training institutions should pay more attention to the development of elementary preservice teachers’ epistemic cognition, approaches to learning, and concepts of teaching. 

According to the literature, elementary preservice teachers’ epistemic cognition tends toward multiple constructions and the belief that knowledge can be constructed by learners themselves. They tend to adopt deep learning and constructivist approaches, which are beneficial to knowledge construction. Therefore, their approach to learning mediates between epistemic cognition and the concepts of teaching. However, the results of this study reveal that the mediating effect of elementary preservice teachers’ epistemic cognition on constructivist teaching concepts through approaches to learning was not supported by the empirical data. The literature lacks findings on the mediating effects of epistemic cognition, approaches to learning, and concepts of teaching. Therefore, future studies should continue to explore the mediating effects of these three variables.