Shifting sands: a case study of conceptual development as competition between alternative conceptions

Conceptual change may be considered as a process of coming to view one theory or model as having more explanatory power than others. Various theorists have described how an individual's understanding of a concept may be multifaceted; how conceptual frameworks develop in a cognitive ecology, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of science education Vol. 23; no. 7; pp. 731 - 753
Main Author Taber, Keith S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Taylor & Francis Group 2001
Taylor & Francis
Subjects
Alternativkonzept
Chemical Bonding
Chemische Bindung
Chemistry
Concept Formation
Conceptual Change
Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods
Educational sciences
Exact and natural sciences
Fallstudie
Higher Education
Konzept
Konzeptentwicklung
Learning
Science Education
Teaching methods
Vorwissen
Conceptualization
Science
Chemistry
Change
Conceptual Structure
Comprehension
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Summary:Conceptual change may be considered as a process of coming to view one theory or model as having more explanatory power than others. Various theorists have described how an individual's understanding of a concept may be multifaceted; how conceptual frameworks develop in a cognitive ecology, and are subject to selection pressures; and how alternative frameworks compete in terms of their explanatory coherence. The present paper applies these ideas to a case study of learning in science. It is argued that conceptual development may be described in terms of a gradual shift in which of several alternative explanatory principles is the learners' preferred choice. The case study illustrates the long-term nature of conceptual change, as a learner comes to see the limitations of one explanatory framework, and the scope for exploring and developing another.
ISSN:0950-0693
1464-5289
DOI:10.1080/09500690010006572