Concepts of a higher hierarchical level require more dual situated learning events for conceptual change: A study of air pressure and buoyancy

This article examines the process of students' conceptual changes in respect of air pressure and buoyancy as a result of instructing with the Dual Situated Learning Model. The dual situated learning events of this model were designed according to the students' ontological viewpoint on the science concepts as well as on the nature of these concepts. Results demonstrated that the notion of buoyancy required more dual situated learning events for conceptual change to occur than that for air pressure. Instead of attributing the difficulty involved in conceptual change to the mismatch of ontological category of the concepts, the author proposes that the hierarchical level of the scientific concepts would determine how easy or difficult it is to bring out a conceptual change. Concepts of higher hierarchical level subsume more essential underlying concepts, thus making it more difficult for conceptual changes to occur.     

DSLM Instructional Approach to Conceptual Change Involving Thermal Expansion

This article examines the process of students' conceptual change involving thermal expansion as a result of employing the Dual Situated Learning Model (DSLM) (She, 2001, 2002) as a classroom instructional approach. The dual situated learning events of this model are designed according to the students' ontological viewpoint of the science concepts as well as the nature of these concepts. Moreover, these events serve two functions in creating dissonance with the pre-existing knowledge and providing new schema for constructing a more scientific view of the concept. DSLM has been shown to promote students' conceptual change using one-to-one instructional procedure (She, 2002). This study further demonstrates that DSLM holds great potential to facilitate the conceptual change process involving thermal expansion through classroom instruction, even the difficult concept or higher hierarchical level one.     

Situated cognition and learning environments: Roles,structures, and implications for design

Situated cognition has emerged as a powerful perspective in providing meaningful learning and promoting the transfer of knowledge to real-life situations. While considerable interest has been generated in situated learning environments, few guidelines exist related to their design. The purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical underpinnings of situated cognition and to derive implications for the design of situated learning environments. The conceptual framework centers on four basic issues: the role of context, the role of content, the role of facilitation, and the role of assessment.     

Facilitating Changes in Ninth Grade Students’ Understanding of Dissolution and Diffusion through DSLM Instruction

This study examines the nature and process of ninth grade students conceptual change regarding their mental model of dissolution and diffusion as a result of instructions using the Dual Situated Learning Model (DSLM). The dual situated learning events of this model are designed according to the students ontological viewpoint of the science concepts as well as the nature of these concepts. Moreover, these events serve two functions by creating dissonance with the pre-existing knowledge and providing new schema for constructing a more scientific view of the concept. The concepts of dissolution and diffusion were chosen to examine students conceptual change process because they involve the understanding of both invisible and process attributes. Results indicate that about 76%–90% of the students successfully underwent a change in their understanding of the concepts of dissolution and diffusion after instruction using dual situated learning events. Moreover, about 75% of the students successfully applied their previous mental sets into the challenging situated learning event. This current study demonstrates that DSLM indeed facilitates the processes of conceptual change and knowledge acquisition involving concepts of dissolution and diffusion, clarifying the nature of conceptual change involving science concepts of both an invisible and a process nature.     

Situated case-based knowledge: An emerging framework for prospective teacher learning

While the use of situated cognition theory in teacher education programmes has the potential to teach prospective teachers, research on teacher knowledge and learning from a situated perspective has been slow to emerge in reference to prospective teacher education. In this paper, we present a situated case-based knowledge framework to explain the development of prospective teachers’ knowledge and beliefs. The framework includes conceptual case knowledge, strategic case knowledge, and the shared identities and beliefs of practicing teachers. In addition, we summarize findings from a study wherein the situated case-based knowledge framework was applied to support prospective teachers’ learning, as well as discuss implications for research and practice.     

Situated trajectories of learning in vocational training interactions

This paper investigates smaller-scale transitions that are part of the longer-term processes of subjective transformation and adaptation to new professional competencies for learners in the field of vocational education. On the conceptual level, it proposes to view transitions as intermediate states in situated trajectories of learning. The notion of trajectory aims to capture that (a) learning occurs through situated and highly contextualized micro activities and (b) that these activities occur within historical sequences of events, which come to form over time dynamic trajectories. The ingredients constitutive of a trajectory of learning are first defined. The notions presented are next applied to the empirical analysis of one sequence of learning, in which we show the transitions undergone by one object of knowledge as it is being taught to different apprentices in a workshop. On the theoretical plane, the paper thus proposes to view transitions as microdynamics of change. On the methodological plane, it contributes to identifying possible empirical sources and methodological frames to study micro-transitional phenomena.     

Situated learning,reflective practice and conceptual expansion: effective peer observation for tutor development

Despite tutors' importance, they often encounter inadequate professional development and support. This study describes the impact of peer observation of teaching activities on tutors' professional development using multiple data-sets over a three-year period. The data was analysed according to three themes: situated learning, reflective practice and conceptual expansion, in order to identify changes to teaching practice. Tutors reported that peer observation of teaching is an effective development activity that encouraged reflection on teaching and, for some, resulted in conceptual expansion and lasting change to teaching. Tutors found the situated aspect of the peer observation activity was an important factor, as it enabled them to observe how other tutors supported their students' engagement with the discipline-specific curriculum. Recommendations for future research and for the professional development of tutors in practice are provided.     

Learning Pathways in Environmental Science Education: The case of hazardous household items

The present study draws on environmental science education to explore aspects of children’s conceptual change regarding hazardous household items. Twelve children from a fifth‐grade class attended a 30‐h teaching module of environmentally oriented science activities aimed at assessing their awareness about the environmental and health hazards posed by several typical household products. In‐depth interviews before, 2 weeks after, and 1 year after, the teaching intervention revealed that children followed three pathways of conceptual change ranging from the substantial alterations of their initial ideas to the qualitative enrichment of those ideas to the complete rejection of the new knowledge. Two components of the instructional intervention—the use of living organisms in classroom experiments, and group learning activities—along with the development of children’s situated metacognitive ideas facilitated their learning and increased the durability of the acquired knowledge. Additionally, sound indications concerning the situated nature and the social construction of the new knowledge were observed, as well as that in environmental education moral and value issues are closely related to knowledge.     

Epistemology,situated cognition,and mental models: 'Like a bridge over troubled water'

Over the past two decades important educational implications have beendrawn mainly from two movements of epistemology: Constructivismand situated cognition. Aside from a meta-theoretical use ofconstructivism, the concept 'situated cognition' refers to a conceptionof situational context bound to a historically and socially determinedsituational logic. Focusing on educational processes, situated cognitionis considered to be a central construct for instruction, as is theclosely related concept of the construction of mental models.There are various kinds of the construction and change of mental modelsin a situational context: self-guided inductive construction is oneexample; another is the processing of a conceptual model providedto the learner. An emerging question is how the preconception changesand if the effects of such a model transition are stable. An exploratorystudy will be sketched which investigates the significance of aconceptual model provided at the beginning of the learning process;it has been hypothesized, that such a conceptual model significantlyimpacts the stability (i.e. the successful reconstruction) of mentalmodels built in the course of learning. Also considerableintraindividual differences and changes between two points of assessingthe learners' causal explanations were found. Similarities of theindividuals' reconstructions could be explained with regard tosimilarities of the structures of the learning situations and therelated instructional intervention. In general, the results of thisexploratory study support the assumption that mental models areconstructed in dependence on the demands of learning situations.     

Embodied cognition as grounding for situatedness and context in mathematics education

In this paper we analyze, from the perspective of 'Embodied Cognition', why learning and cognition are situated and context-dependent. We argue that the nature of situated learning and cognition cannot be fully understood by focusing only on social, cultural and contextual factors. These factors are themselves further situated and made comprehensible by the shared biology and fundamental bodily experiences of human beings. Thus cognition itself is embodied, and the bodily-grounded nature of cognition provides a foundation for social situatedness, entails a reconceptualization of cognition and mathematics itself, and has important consequences for mathematics education. After framing some theoretical notions of embodied cognition in the perspective of modern cognitive science, we analyze a case study – continuity of functions. We use conceptual metaphor theory to show how embodied cognition, while providing grounding for situatedness, also gives fruitful results in analyzing the cognitive difficulties underlying the understanding of continuity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Learning in physics by doing laboratory work: towards a new conceptual framework

Drawing on a study that explores university students’ experiences of doing laboratory work in physics, this article outlines a proposed conceptual framework for extending the exploration of the gendered experience of learning. In this framework situated cognition and post‐structural gender theory are merged together. By drawing on data that aim at exploring the gendered experience of learning in physics in the laboratory setting, a case is made for the proposed conceptual framework to facilitate an analysis of gender as an active process that relates the dynamics of this process to the emerging physicist identities of the students. In other words, this framework allows for an analysis of the gendered learning experiences in a context such as physics education that goes well beyond the usual ‘women‐friendly’ teaching approaches.     

Making sense of theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches: Exploring conceptual change and interest in learning from a sociocultural perspective

Educational psychology has a tradition of considering learning and motivation in terms of the individual and individual functioning. Short-term intervention studies have been common and quantitative measurement of the causes and effects of variables has been the aim of much research. When a sociocultural approach forms the basis of research into psychological constructs, a reappraisal of the research aims and the ways in which data are gathered and analysed is necessary. If the underlying assumption is that learning and motivation are socially and culturally situated, the design of research studies needs to encompass participation in authentic and purposeful activities. In order to develop a rich sociocultural understanding of these constructs, qualitative research designs become increasingly important. In this article, we consider two current research projects, one focusing upon conceptual change amongst students in a first year university class, and the other a classroom-based qualitative study exploring primary (elementary) students’ interest in learning. In each project, data have been collected over time in relation to both social interaction and individual functioning in specific sociocultural contexts. Our frameworks for data collection and approaches to data analysis are discussed in this article, together with some of the issues which we have identified as problematic. In particular we are conscious of the difficulties associated with articulating and describing the nature of social and cultural contexts, especially those with which we are familiar, and of distinguishing their most salient features. We are also critically aware that because our research is situated within very familiar environments, we need to identify and explore our implicit assumptions about those environments and the ways in which our roles as teachers and researchers both coincide and occasionally conflict.     

Teaching science in fifth grade: Instructional goals that support conceptual change

How one teacher in a fifth-grade classroom (student ages 10–11) facilitated learning as conceptual change is the subject of this research. The teacher presented her students with seven learning goals that she believed would allow students to engage in conceptual change learning. Student outcomes as a result of this teacher's instruction included significant changes in the ability of students to engage in conversations that are characterized as metaconceptual and metacognitive. These changes are attributed to instructional activities of the teacher that established her learning goals. Characteristics of the learning environment created by this teacher are presented and an analysis of the instructional activities she presented to students are used to answer the following question: How did the learning goals presented by this teacher support students as they engaged in learning as conceptual change? The implications of this study for teachers in different contexts are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 1091–1101, 1998     

Understanding Conceptual Change and Science Learning through Educational Neuroscience

Although the field of educational neuroscience has grown in recent years, little research has been conducted on conceptual change and science learning through an educational neuroscience framework. Educational neuroscience is frequently used to study processes of language and mathematics cognition, but is not extensively applied to conceptual change and science learning. This review integrates insights from extant conceptual change educational neuroscience studies to inform the fields of educational psychology and science education. These new insights shed light on the persistence of misconceptions and the roles of error detection, inhibition, executive function, and memory in conceptual change. Future directions for the study of conceptual change and educational neuroscience are discussed.     

Conceptual Metaphor and the Study of Conceptual Change: Research synthesis and future directions

Many of the goals of research on conceptual metaphor in science education overlap with the goals of research on conceptual change. The relevance of a conceptual metaphor perspective to the study of conceptual change has already been discussed. However, a substantial body of literature on conceptual metaphor in science education has now emerged. This work has not yet been synthesized or related explicitly to the goals of conceptual change research. This paper first presents a broad sketch of the study of conceptual change, characterizing the goals of this body of work, its contributions to date, and identifying open questions. Next, the literature on conceptual metaphor in science education is reviewed against this background. The review clarifies the natural theoretical connections between the conceptual metaphor perspective and the phenomenon of conceptual change. It then examines the contributions made by the literature on conceptual metaphor in science education to the goals of research on conceptual change—namely, characterizing student conceptions, identifying obstacles to learning, understanding the process of conceptual change, and designing productive pedagogical strategies that could achieve conceptual change. The paper concludes with a discussion of further avenues for research into conceptual change, suggested by adopting a conceptual metaphor perspective.