Investigating the relationship between refutational text and conceptual change

• Published in: Science education (Salem, Mass.) Vol. 87; no. 5; pp. 663 - 684
• Main Author: Palmer, David H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.09.2003; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Australia; Change Strategies; Concept Formation; Conceptual Change; Ecology; Educational sciences; Error Correction; Foreign Countries; Grade 9; Interview; Interviews; Metacognition; Misconceptions; Pretests Posttests; Psychologie; Resistance to Change; Role; Science education; Science teaching; Scientific concepts; Secondary education; Student Motivation; Teaching methods; Untersuchung; Zusammenhang; Australia; Learning; Concept; Reading; Research; Discussion; Case Study
• ISSN: 0036-8326; 1098-237X
• DOI: 10.1002/sce.1056

The aim of this study was to identify the type of conceptual change (assimilation or accommodation) that can be induced by a refutational text. Individual interviews were carried out with a stratified sample of eighty-seven grade 9 students. Forty-four percent of them were found to have a misconception about the concept of ecological role - they believed that some living things do not have a role in nature. These 36 students were asked to read either a text that refuted the misconception, or a control text that consisted of a didactic explanation of ecological role. They then participated in an immediate posttest and a delayed posttest. Surprisingly, both texts were able to induce accommodation in a large proportion of the students. Factors such as the high motivation of the students, encouragement of metacognition, age-readiness of the students, and a relative lack of robustness of the misconception were considered to have greatly facilitated the conceptual change process.