Conceptual change

This article argues that the analogy between conceptual changes in the history of science and conceptual changes in the development of young children is problematic. We show that the notions of ‘conceptual change’ in Kuhn and Piaget’s projects, the two thinkers whose work is most commonly drawn upon to support this analogy, are not compatible in the sense usually claimed. We contend that Kuhn’s work pertains not so much to the psychology of individual scientists, but to the way philosophers and historians should describe developments in communities of scientists. Furthermore, we argue that the analogy is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of science and the relation between science and common sense. The distinctiveness of the two notions of conceptual change has implications for science education research, since it raises serious questions about the relevance of Kuhn’s remarks for the study of pedagogical issues.

Review of Educational Research Summer 1993, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 167-199 ... Beyond Cold Conceptual Change: The Role of Motivational Beliefs and Classroom Contextual Factors in the Process of Conceptual Change ... Paul R. Pintrich, Ronald W. Marx, and Robert A. Boyle ...

Most general chemistry courses and textbooks emphasize experimental details and lack a history and philosophy of science perspective. The objective of this study is to facilitate freshman general chemistry students' understanding of atomic structure based on the work of Thomson, Rutherford, and Bohr. It is hypothesized that classroom discussions based on arguments/counterarguments of the heuristic principles, on which these scientists based their atomic models, can facilitate students' conceptual understanding. This study is based on 160 freshman students enrolled in six sections of General Chemistry I (three sections formed part of the experimental group). All three models (Thomson, Rutherford, and Bohr) were presented to the experimental and control group students in the traditional manner, as found in most textbooks. After this, the three sections of the experimental group participated in the discussion of six items with alternative responses. Students were first asked to select a response and then participate in classroom discussions leading to arguments in favor or against the selected response and finally select a new response. Three weeks after having discussed the six items, both the experimental and control groups presented a monthly exam (based on the three models) and after another 3 weeks a semester exam. Results obtained show that given the opportunity to argue and discuss, students' understanding can go beyond the simple regurgitation of experimental details. Performance of the experimental group showed contradictions, resistances, and progressive conceptual change with considerable and consistent improvement in the last item. It is concluded that if we want our students to understand scientific progress and practice, then it is important that we include the experimental details not as a rhetoric of conclusions (Schwab, 1962, The teaching of science as enquiry, Cambridge, MA, Harward University Press; Schwab, 1974, Conflicting conceptions of curriculum, Berkeley, CA, McCutchan) but as heuristic principles (Lakatos, 1970, Criticism and the growth of knowledge, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, pp. 91-195), which were based on arguments, controversies, and interpretations of the scientists.

In this paper we explore the holonic enterprise as an example of the phenomenon of emergence. To conduct this exploration, we describe some of the development work now being carried out in the holonic enterprise field and examine anticipated near-future outcomes ...

The purpose of the study was to investigate pre-service teachers' view of nature of science (NOS). A descriptive survey design was used for the study. A convenience sampling technique was used to get the participants. Participants were made up of 231 level 100 pre-service teachers (119 males and 112 females) from five colleges of education in Ghana. All the colleges of education were under the same mentor university. Participants completed the view of nature of science questionnaire (NOSQ) through online learning platforms. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that in general pre-service have no adequate conceptions about nature of science. However, pre-service teachers have informed views of some aspects of nature of science. The results revealed that 56 (24.2%) of pre-service teachers have naïve view of NOS. The results also revealed that 89 (38.5%) of pre-service teachers have transitional view of NOS. The results also revealed that 86 (37.2%) of pre-service teachers have informed view of NOS. There was no significant difference in pre-service teachers view of NOS between males (M = 3.76, SD = .389) and females (M = 3.79, SD = .376), t (229) =-.707, p = .48. Therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed no significant difference in pre-service teachers' view of NOS by programme options, [F (2,228) = .783, p = .458.]

In spite of its potential for learning, and in particular knowledge revision, productive argumentation on science concepts is neither easily elicited, nor sustained. Students may feel uneasy critiquing and being critiqued, especially on complex science topics. We report on a controlled study that tested the role of two potential factors that may either relieve or aggravate some of these concerns: the partner’s argumentive discourse style (disputative or deliberative) and belief in interaction with a human or a computer agent. Learners interacted in scripted, computer-mediated interactions with a confederate on their understanding of a scientific concept they had just studied (i.e., diffusion). They were led to believe they were either interacting with a human peer or with a conversational peer agent.  The peer confederate’s verbal behavior was scripted to evoke argumentative discourse, while controlling for exposure to conceptual content and the type of dialogue moves, but differing in argumentive discourse  style (disputative or deliberative). Results show that conceptual understanding of participants in the deliberative discourse style condition was higher than that in the disputative condition. Furthermore, even though previous studies have reported that the belief in human interaction benefits learning in consensual interactions, the opposite was found to be true in a setting of disagreement and critique: Higher conceptual learning gains were found for belief in interaction with a computer agent, compared to with a human peer. Implications for theory as well as instructional design are discussed.

In this paper we present an experience developed with primary teachers which led to the design of a course, from a constructivistic point of view, on those concepts related to Astronomy included in primary curricula (day and night, seasons, moon phases). With the comparison of prelpost diagnoses (written questions and clinical interviews), we discuss the effectiveness of this conceptual change strategy and make some conclusions, particularly on teacher training.

Praca ta nie ma w zamyśle charakteru stricte biograficznego – wpisuje się raczej w badania idei politycznych ze szczególnym naciskiem na aspekt ich płynności i zapożyczeń pomiędzy różnymi kontekstami narodowymi i językowymi. Ścisłej rzecz ujmując, traktuję Królikowskiego jako ilustrację – fakt, że na poziomie jednostkowym- tego, jak poszczególne idee mogą krążyć i przekraczać granice; albo, na odwrót, jak bardzo mogą one być do pewnych kontekstów, krajów czy dyskursów przypisane. Zakotwiczenie określonych koncepcji w środowisku społecznym może być bowiem tak silne, że próba ich przeszczepienia na inny grunt natrafi na nieprzekraczalna barierę. Jeśli rzeczywiście tak jest, oznacza to, że w historii idei, obok fascynujących przykładów mobilności, istnieją również obszary swoistego embarga, do których nie można określonych koncepcji zaaplikować czy wnieść. Obie te kwestie – krążenie i zakotwiczenie – choć są biegunowo przeciwne, to jednak spotykają się w tym samym polu dociekań, a przez to można je wykryć, stosując zbliżone procedury badawcze.

This article offers an interpretation of scientific concepts’ understanding in terms of mental simulation. A series of studies are reviewed, showing that mental simulation is a fundamental form of computation in the brain, underlying many cognitive skills such as mindreading, perception, memory, and language. Current investigations in cognitive neuroscience are then considered, that relate mental simulation with brain regions involved in episodic memory, future thinking and problem solving. The role of mental simulation in scientific thinking is described and a link is made with model-based reasoning in scientists and students. The simulation and linguistic systems are shown to be integrated and mutually reinforcing. The reviewed studies provide a set of ideas that are applied to science education. Finally, instructional design guidelines are proposed to facilitate the mental simulation-based process of concept understanding, together with a list of possible difficulties in concept comprehension and conceptual change.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce one of the two perspectives that are highlighted in this volume – Knowledge Analysis (KA). Briefl y, KA is the study of the content and form of knowledge for the purpose of understanding learning. Our goal is to give a relatively deep account of KA, one that articulates its core premises with some precision. At the same time, we attempt to capture some of the breadth of the work that has been carried out under the KA banner. Up to this point, principles and practices of KA have been articulated mainly in the methods sections of a diverse body of research studies on thinking and learning, across several topic areas (mechanics, statistics and probability, algebra, special relativity, etc.). Thus, in this chapter, we aim to synthesize KA in a way that allows readers to recognize the unifying methodological principles behind a large body of research, while also giving insight into the real-world practice of Knowledge Analysis. Readers outside the community of researchers who draw upon the methods of KA might be more familiar with two connected terms, Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) and phenomenological primitives (p-prims). To help readers get grounded with respect to the methodological focus of this chapter, here is how we understand the relationships among these terms: • KiP is the name for a class of theoretical models of knowledge – models in which knowledge is seen as consisting of a complex system of elements. • P-prim is the name for an element in one such model, a model that was developed by diSessa to describe intuitive knowledge of the physical world. • KA is the name for the methodological approach to studying knowledge employed by KiP and allied researchers. In principle, research programs built on the basis of KA could result in very diff erent kinds of models of knowledge. For that reason, KA is the most encompassing of these terms.

In this paper I use the conceptual change theoretical framework, in order to describe and evaluate the productivity of teacher's in-situ support to Situational misconceptions. I illustrate a case in which two students work together in order to solve a problem in math. The focal point is their teacher's intervention, in which she attempts to get her students out of a messy situation. This analysis helps to understand, in fine grain, the process – and consequences – of avoiding refutation of non-productive narratives, before adding new ones - in the context of math problem solving. In addition, we learn that in the process of solution, narratives might not always compete: ideas from two, or more, narratives could be forged to new Situational misconceptions.

This is a sample chapter available at http://d2yvuud5fila0c.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/17130631/friendship-among-nations.pdf

This is the first book-length study of the role that friendship plays in diplomacy and international politics. Through an examination of a vast amount of sources ranging from diplomatic letters and bilateral treaties, to poems and philosophical treatises, it analyses how friendship has been talked about and practised in pre-modern political orders and modern systems of international relations.

The study highlights how instrumental friendship was for describing and legitimising a range of political and legal engagements with foreign countries and nations. It emphasizes contractual and political aspects in diplomatic friendship based on the idea of utility. It is these functions of the concept that help the world stick together when collective institutions are either embryonic or no more.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether students’ achievement in integrated science could be predicted from their achievement in core mathematics. The study employed ex post facto design in which the 2017 West African Senior school Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results of 674 students of Damongo Senior high school comprising 430 males and 244 females was analyzed using the numerical values of their grades. Regression analysis and correlations were run with the students’ core mathematics and integrated science grade values. The results showed a significant correlation between students’ core mathematics grades and integrated science grades (r = .629, p = .000). Analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between core mathematics achievements and integrated science achievement [F (1, 672) = 440.609, p = .000]. The regression analysis gave a significant model fit (R2 = .396, p = .000). This implied that 39.6% of the total variance in integrated science is accounted for by core mathematics. Also, independent samples t-test results revealed significant difference in achievement of males and females in core mathematics and integrated science.

Every tool builds a conceptual box. This cognitive box means a situation within which the tool is useful. Outside of that context, that particular conceptual box, the tool ignores everything else. Thus, it is useless in its ability to guide you in thinking and exploring outside of that contextual and conceptual box. To believe that you can successfully use that tool outside of the circumstance for which it has its use is to become tool trapped. The very tool you are supposedly the wielder of, will, if used out of context, wind up metaphorically wielding you. This is what being tool trapped means.
Our most important conceptual tool is common sense logic. Where does that logic come from and what are its limitations?
This paper explores the trap create by common sense logic and thus how to avoid being trapped within its limiting box.

In this paper I draw an overview of a new model to analyse conceptual evolution in the classroom, based on the notion of Conceptual Profile. This model differs from conceptual change models in suggesting that it is possible to use different ways of thinking in different domains and that a new concept does not necessarily replace previous and alternative ideas. According to this model, learning science is to change a conceptual profile and become conscious of the different zones of the profile, which includes common-sense and scientific ideas. To exemplify how the Conceptual Profile notion can help to understand the evolution of conceptions in the classroom I shall determine the different zones that constitute the epistemological and ontological profile of the concepts of the atom and of physical states of matter.

How do concepts emerge and change? This chapter investigates the concept of the 'blue economy'. The concept was originally proposed as an alternative to the 'green economy' and as a way of thinking innovation and sustainability. Over the years it has evolved into a concept that is primarily about the economic potential of the sea. The developing blue economy agenda aims at providing new direction for ocean governance, maritime trade, ocean resource exploration and ocean health. Increasingly it is also linked to concerns over maritime security. The chapter investigates the twist and turns that the concept of blue economy has been taking. It draws on a practice theoretical framework that argues that we should appreciate the way in which concepts are responses to concrete problematic situations. A range of such problematic situations are investigated. The chapter offers both, a rich empirical case from one of the least studied areas of global governance, as well as a new way of thinking about conceptual change in practice. Concepts are one of the basic linguistic material of international politics. Yet, the study of concepts is often reduced to a concern of historians of international thought. This misunderstanding is gradually corrected, 1 the awareness is growing that concepts are also a productive entry point for understanding contemporary international politics and how it changes. This new recognition is linked to the re-evaluation of linguistic structures as part of the introduction of discourse-theoretical and post-structuralist thoughts to the discipline of international relations (IR). These textualist perspectives have well advanced our understanding of why and how language matters in international politics. They, however, tend to focus on larger systems of meaning and do not scrutinize single concepts, their evolution, and career. In this chapter, I argue for basing the study of concepts on a practice theoretical perspective. 2 I draw on a contemporary and recently emerged concept: the Blue Economy. The concept of Blue Economy emerged over the last decade as a new way of thinking about and governing the oceans. I use the case of this concept to develop three interrelated claims for practice-based concept analysis: Firstly, following the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Dewey I suggest that the meaning of a concept lies in its use. Concepts have no inherent meaning outside of their use. For Wittgenstein concepts are part of what he called " language games ". For Dewey, making a similar argument decades earlier, concepts had to be seen as part of " conjunct activities " of a community of functional language use. Rather than " language games " or " conjunct activities " I suggest the more established term of " practice " , to refer to the sets of activities within which concepts are used. In consequence, the study of concepts implies to study the practices of which concepts are part, the collectives that carry and enact the practice and the situations they are part (practical configurations).

Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu krytyczne zestawienie dwóch perspektyw, istotnych dla badań szeroko rozumianej historii idei, czyli szkoły Cambridge z niemiecką tradycją Begriffsgeschichte. W pierwszej części tekstu wskazuję na główne podobieństwa między nimi, takie jak czas czy sposoby powstania. Część druga służy omówieniu i problematyzacji głównych kategorii badawczych, wypracowanych w ramach obu nurtów metodologicznych, takich jak akty mowy i pojęcia. Kolejno, w części trzeciej analizuję poziomy kontekstu, w ramach których pracują przedstawiciele obu tradycji, a także wskazuję na słabości czynionych w tej kwestii rozstrzygnięć. Część czwarta służy przytoczeniu zewnętrznych perspektyw, m.in. metod, wypracowanych przez Michaela Freedena, które pozwalają zobaczyć w nowym świetle brytyjską i niemiecką tradycję. Wreszcie, w podsumowaniu wskazuję na sensowność rozwoju tego typu refleksji oraz na wyzwania, przed którymi stoi historia idei w Polsce.

Öğrenmeyi etkileyen faktörlerden birisi Ausubel’in (1963) de ısrarla savunduğu gibi öğrencinin ön bilgisidir. Öğrenci yeni bir konuyu öğrenirken mevcut bilgisi ile kendisine sunulan yeni fikirleri ilişkilendirebiliyorsa anlamlı öğrenmeyi gerçekleştirebilir ve bunu değişik problem durumlarına rahatlıkla uygulayabilir. Ancak, fen eğitimi alanında yapılan araştırmalar öğrencilerin sahip oldukları ön bilgilerin çoğu zaman bilim insanları tarafından kabul gören görüşlerle çeliştiğini; öğrencilerin ön bilgilerinin bazı  “kavram yanılgıları” içerdiğini göstermektedir.

Öğrencilerin sahip oldukları kavram yanılgılarının geleneksel eğitim ile bir başka deyişle “düz anlatımla” ortadan kaldırılmasını düşünmek eğitimciler açısından bir yanılgıdır.

Kavramsal değişim; öğrencinin mevcut bilgisini kendisine sunulan fikirler ile basit bir biçimde değiştirmesinden ziyade; öğrencinin mevcut kavramsal yapılarının radikal olarak yeniden düzenlenmesi ve nitel olarak farklı yeni temsillerin oluşturulması anlamına gelmektedir.

Yani, kavramsal değişimin amacı, öğrencilerin mevcut fikirlerini bilimsel olarak kabul edilen fikirlerle değiştirmelerine zorlamak değildir. Kavramsal değişim;  öğrencilerin bir fikri bir başka fikirle etkileşime sokma alışkanlığını oluşturmalarını ve alternatif düşünceye sahip olmak için uygun stratejiler geliştirmelerini sağlamalıdır.

Yukarıda sözü edilen gereksinimden yola çıkarak bu bölümde, kavram yanılgıları, nedenleri ve kavramsal değişim konuları tartışılacaktır.

The complexity and unknown nature of the Brexit change events ask for a more people orientated form of change management, based on strong sponsorship and project planning while utilizing the available best practice knowledge and experience in the field of change management. This would decrease change resistance, increase speed of adoption, ultimate utilization and proficiency.

Brexit was and is no ordinary change situation, unique in that a country leaving the EU has never occurred before. Therefore there is no precedent that could serve as a guide to what is essentially a radically complex set of change projects (Draczkowska 2018) with their own extremely important milestones. We are only now over the first hurdle, the creation of a quite volatile exit deal if this indeed remains in place. (The Guardian 2020)

It’s difficult to know if one should write in the past or present due to the ongoing nature of Brexit.  For this reason this study will look at both the series of circumstances that have led to our present situation (Friedman 2016), and the preparations for one of the biggest milestones yet to come, the UK leaving the European Union. I won’t be examining the reasons for Brexit. But focus instead on how Brexit was managed as a change project, and if it had used known change management knowledge and tools, would there still be the mass split in UK peoples views of Brexit as a process and their feeling of trust when it comes to the government as their leaders? Even if Change management was implemented (Government of the United Kingdom 2014), was it effective enough? For the purposes of this case study, change management is understood as ‘The process, tools and techniques required to manage the people side of change in order to achieve a required outcome’ (Prosci).  I will be relating my observations to the PCT model from Prosci change management theory, as a way to gage the beginning risk factors and levels  of Brexit as a change project. Alongside this the Adkar change model provides a great tool for gaging the people side of change, asking if the government's current attitude and management style truly ignites Awareness and desire to in the very least, conform with the necessities of change put in place.

En el presente libro, Rodrigo Cordero invita a reconsiderar la centralidad que los conceptos tienen tanto en la comprensión como en la producción de la vida social. A través de lecturas de Adorno, Arendt, Koselleck y Luhmann, así como de una serie de escenas y fragmentos de la sociedad chilena contemporánea, propone explorar diversas maneras en que los conceptos operan en procesos sociales e históricos concretos, como archivos de significados y experiencias, ensamblajes de prácticas, campos de lucha, y agentes de imaginación política. En vez de utilizar los conceptos como fuentes de certidumbre y coherencia científica, el libro propone emplearlos como sitios de exploración de las incertidumbres y contradicciones de lo social.

Os ensaios aqui reunidos pretendem servir de introdução ao tema da mudança conceitual. Partindo de uma perspectiva que busca vincular aspectos epistemológicos e hermenêuticos da mudança conceitual, são apresentadas e discutidas questões centrais da Epistemologia e da História da Ciência, considerando especialmente algumas das contribuições mais significativas da Filosofia atual, representadas por Ludwick Fleck, Norwood Russell Hanson, Thomas S. Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Jean Piaget, Paul K. Feyerabend, Theodor Adorno, Alfred Schütz, Jürgen Habermas, Hans Geor Gadamer e Richard Bernstein.