Contrasting Ohlsson's Resubsumption Theory With Chi's Categorical Shift Theory

Ohlsson's proposal of resubsumption as the dominant process in conceptual, or nonmonotonic, change presents a worthy challenge to more established theories, such as Chi's theory of ontological shift. The two approaches differ primarily in that Ohlsson's theory emphasizes a process of learning in which narrower, more specific concepts are subsumed by more general, abstract categories through recognition of similarities, whereas Chi's theory emphasizes the dissociation of overly general categories through the recognition of differences. We examine the evidence for both theories and consider the educational implications of each. Overall, though subsumption almost certainly plays a role in nonmonotonic change, we maintain, on the basis of evidence from cognitive science and developmental psychology, that dissociation accounts for a greater portion of the re-representational processes underpinning changes in the structure of learner's knowledge.     

Merlin C. Wittrock and the Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy

The three commentaries on the resubsumption theory highlight three key ideas: that the term conceptual change, as commonly used, is ambiguous between “change in the meaning of a concept” and “change in what someone believes”; that there are multiple routes to successful learning of conceptual subject matters; and that the noticing of a previously unheeded contrast can be as strong a driver of change as the noticing of an unheeded similarity. These ideas are consistent with the resubsumption theory. Other arguments and objections to resubsumption are shown to be irrelevant or weak. Although the commentaries contribute important ideas, the latter do not add up to a superior theory of how and why resistance to conflicting information is overcome and core beliefs revised. The commentaries also illustrate three knotty points in conceptual change research that stand in need of attention.     

A modified refutation text design: effects on instructional efficiency for experts and novices

Recently, cognitive load theory has been considered within conceptual change research. Although the effectiveness of refutation texts (RT) has been proven, the conceptual change process involved and the influencing factors remain unclear. To contribute to this research, we investigate the efficiency of pupils working with a modified RT design in which the alternative and scientific conceptions are not explicitly contrasted, and we examine the level of learner expertise as a possible influencing factor. We investigated the efficiency based on the scientific conceptions learned and the mental effort invested (reflecting cognitive load) during instruction (N = 195, 9th graders). Only pupils with high prior knowledge (experts) showed low efficiency and higher mental effort when dealing with alternative conceptions. Our results indicate that the experts did not profit from the mental effort they invested in the learning process, whereas the novices seemed to profit from their invested mental effort.     

Model building for conceptual change

Conceptual change is a popular, contemporary conception of meaningful learning. Conceptual change describes changes in conceptual frameworks (mental models or personal theories) that learners construct to comprehend phenomena. Different theories of conceptual change describe the reorganization of conceptual frameworks that results from different forms of activity. We argue that learners' conceptual frameworks (mental models or personal theories) resulting from conceptual change are most acutely affected by model-based reasoning. Model-based reasoning is engaged and fostered by learner construction of qualitative and quantitative models of the content or phenomena they are studying using technology-based modelling tools. Model building is a powerful strategy for engaging, supporting, and assessing conceptual change in learners because these models scaffold and externalize internal, mental models by providing multiple formalisms for representing conceptual understanding and change. We demonstrate the processes and products of building models of domain content, problems, systems, experiences, and thinking processes using different technology-based modelling tools. Each tool provides alternative representational formalisms that enable learners to qualitatively and quantitatively model their conceptual frameworks.     

Using a Conceptual-Change Approach to Help Preservice Science Teachers Reorganize Their Knowledge Structures for Constructivist Teaching

This study, based on constructivist learning theory, examined how effectively preservice chemistry teachers (N = 43) can be educated to think flexibly and to reorganize their thinking in a way that may complement diverse ways students approach the subject domain. The teacher's cognitive structure was assessed prior to and after a conceptual change intervention using flow-map narrative analyses. There was a significant change in the organization of the preservice teacher's narrative after the conceptual change intervention, including greater networking of ideas and more thematic development of the content. Hence, a conceptual change approach may be a useful way to educate teachers to be more responsive to student individual differences when planning and delivering science lessons.     

概念同化、改变和迁移在教学中的应用

学习是对现有知识结构的丰富和重构。丰富是现有知识对新知识的同化过程,重构则是概念改变,表现为理论的修正和改变。上述学习理论运用于教学中的一个重要方面就是设计和组织学习材料。学习材料具有多种形式,包含着与学习者固着观念相联系的同化点,能引发学习者的认知冲突,或显示新知识的特性导致概念改变,并且能提供新的情景便于学习者的知识迁移。因此综合设计和组织学习材料是促进学习者对知识进行有意义建构,提高其学习能力的关键。     

Explorations of relationships among learners, tasks, and learning

Based on a critical re-analysis of cognitive load theory (CLT), Schnotz and Kürschner identified the need for research on more sensitive ways of assessing learner characteristics, both prior to and during instruction, in order to understand learning processes and outcomes. One emergent theme of the papers in this special issue is that the “same” learning environment is differentially demanding and produces different results depending on characteristics of the learners, most importantly their knowledge in the task domain. These findings indicate that to optimize learning outcomes, theories of instructional design and learning need to be more adaptive and reflect the nuances of interactions among learners, tasks, and instructional supports.     

Testing the instructional fit hypothesis: the case of self-explanation prompts

Cognitive science principles should have implications for the design of effective learning environments. The self-explanation principle was chosen for the current work because it has developed significantly over the last 20 years. Early formulations hypothesized that self-explanation facilitated inference generation to supply missing information about a concept or target skill, whereas later work hypothesized that self-explanation facilitated mental-model revision (Chi, Handbook of research on conceptual change, 2000). To better understand the complex relationship between prior knowledge, cognitive processing, and changes to a learner’s representation, two classes of self-explanation prompts (gap-filling and mental-model revision) were tested in the domain of physics problem solving. Prompts designed to focus the learner on gap-filling led to greater learning and a reduction in the amount of tutoring assistance required to solve physics problems. The results are interpreted as support for the instructional fit hypothesis—the idea that the efficacy of instruction is contingent on the match between the cognitive processing that the instruction elicits, how those processes modify the underlying knowledge representations for the task, and the utility of those representations for the task or problem.     

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 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.     

Representation and Process in Learning Environments for Mathematics: A Commentary on Three Systems

Three computer‐based systems for teaching arithmetic and algebra are discussed. The systems embody several pedagogical tactics: To provide students with augmented repre‐sentations that reveal the structure of problem solutions; to make mathematical symbols meaningful by giving students concrete referents for those symbols; to provide students with enriched feedback about the consequences of their mathematical operations; and to adapt instruction to the cognitive processes of the students. Weaknesses in the three systems are discussed and two general problems, called complexity trade‐off and scaffold removal, are put forward as possible explanations for why the systems are not more effective. The alternative view that mathematics is difficult because it requires abstract thinking is outlined and some of its implications discussed briefly.     

Shedding Light on the East Asian Learner Paradox: Reconstructing student-centredness in a Shanghai classroom

The East Asian learner paradox refers to the apparent contradiction between the teacher-dominated learning environment in East Asia, which is generally perceived to be non-conducive to learning, and the outstanding performance of East Asian students in comparative studies. This study attempts to explain this phenomenon based on the perspectives of a Chinese teacher from Shanghai, his group of students, and the author's own observations as a researcher. The analysis was based on the theory of variation and it showed how the teacher handled the relationship between the procedural and conceptual aspects of the mathematics. This analysis also shows that the teacher in this study had a strong pedagogical belief and highly valued his students' thinking and participation. At the same time, his students also expressed a consistent concern for learning the mathematical content. Therefore, this author argues that what seems to be a teacher-dominated lesson may actually be interpreted as an alternative form of student-centredness, which is accepted in the teacher's culture.     

Heterogeneous performances of conceptual dis/continuity: a dialectic reading of Brown and Kloser’s article

We review Brown and Kloser’s article, “Conceptual continuity and the science of baseball: using informal science literacy to promote students science learning” from a Vygotskian cultural-historical and dialectic perspective. Brown and Kloser interpret interview data with student baseball players and claim that students’ conceptual understanding articulated in vernacular genres involves continuities (similarities) with the canonical scientific explanations. In this commentary, we suggest that the authors’ approach presupposes the dichotomy of the formal and the informal, which brings the authors’ attention to continuity into the separation of cognition from language. We propose a Vygotskian approach that points out the problem of theorizing cognition (conceptual understanding) by depending on specific forms of representation (e.g., scientific terms). As alternative, we envision a Vygotskian cultural-historical approach to language, which considers different, irreducible modes of communication as an integrated whole and therefore allows theorizing cognition without dichotomizing it from the concrete ways by which human being communicates. We provide an exemplary analysis of a lecture talk in a university physics classroom and exemplify dialectic theories that explain the development of conceptual understanding. We discuss that this Vygotskian dialectic approach shows that people communicate scientific concepts through hybridization, which does not reproduce a genre self-identically; the continuity of conceptual understanding involves dis/continuity.     

英语饮食词汇的隐喻和转喻分析

认知语言学家认为隐喻和转喻不仅是修辞现象,更是认知思维方式。隐喻是通过另一类事物来理解和经历某一类事物的认知活动。转喻是在同一理想化认知模型中一个概念实体为另一概念实体提供心理可及的认知过程。隐喻和转喻理论为词义演变的研究提供了一个新的视角。隐喻和转喻两种认知机制在英语饮食词语的语义延伸中起着重要作用。     

Reexamining the Role of Cognitive Conflict in Science Concept Learning

In this study, we defined and quantified the degree of cognitive conflict induced by a discrepant event from a cognitive perspective. Based on the scheme developed, we investigated the relationship between cognitive conflict and conceptual change, and the influences of students' cognitive characteristics on conflict in learning the concept of density. Subjects were 171 seventh-grade girls from two city middle schools in Korea. Tests regarding logical thinking ability, field dependence/independence, and meaningful learning approach were administered. A preconception test and a test of responses to a discrepant event were also administered. Computer-assisted instruction was then provided to students as a conceptual change intervention. A conception test was administered as a posttest. In analysing students' responses to the discrepant event, seven types of responses were identified: Rejection, reinterpretation, exclusion, uncertainty, peripheral belief change, belief decrease, and belief change. These types were then ordered into four levels. The results indicated that there existed a significant correlation between cognitive conflict and conceptual change. t-test results revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the degree of cognitive conflict by the levels of students' logical thinking ability and field dependence/independence. Meaningful learning approach, however, was found to have no statistically significant effect on cognitive conflict. Educational implications are discussed.     

A taxonomy of emotion and cognition for student reflection: introducing emo-cog

ABSTRACT

Reflective practice can support student learning by enabling praxis: the bridging of the theory of the classroom with the students’ learning experience. Students’ written reflections are the most common mode for practising and documenting reflection. Available typologies for coding the level of student written reflections focus on the cognitive domain. The coding of student reflection data from four locations (Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong and South Korea; n?=?760) revealed that the focus on the cognitive domain could not capture the role and contribution of the affective domain of reflection for learning. This study conceptualises and presents our new two-domain emo-cog taxonomy, together with empirical evidence to substantiate a new way of thinking about reflection for learning. Emo-cog identifies multiple levels of affective responses along with traditional cognitive reflections. Emotions are found to make a significant contribution to student reflections. Learning is clearly a matter of head and heart.     

Medical educators’ metaphoric talk about their assessment relationships with students: ‘you don’t want to sort of be the one who sticks the knife in them’

Current perspectives in cognitive linguistics highlight the conceptual nature of cognition and how the conceptual metaphors we hold affect ways we think, talk and act. This study examines medical educators’ metaphoric talk to understand ways in which assessment relationships with students are conceptualised in order to understand why educators might ‘fail to fail’ underperformance in medical students. We conducted 10 focus groups with 70 educators at two UK medical schools. The audiotapes were transcribed and analysed using systematic metaphor analysis. The analysis revealed six over‐arching metaphors associated with the target domain of assessment relationships, i.e. assessment relationships as journey, war, sport, parentalism, machine and medicine. While medical educators conceptualised students’ academic failure in relatively innocuous ways (e.g. students’ failure to arrive at their destination; journey), they also conceptualised failure in harmful ways (e.g. students’ death; war). If medical educators hold the concept of assessment relationships as war, it is perhaps unsurprising that they are reluctant to fail students. We discuss these findings in light of existing literature and provide recommendations for designing training sessions through which assessors can address reluctance to fail underperformance. Such faculty development may aid assessors in identifying and using alternative metaphors to conceptualise the assessment relationship.     

Elementary teachers' epistemological and ontological understanding of teaching for conceptual learning

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which elementary teachers applied their understanding of conceptual learning and teaching to their instructional practices as they became knowledgeable about conceptual change pedagogy. Teachers' various ways to interpret and utilize students' prior ideas were analyzed in both epistemological and ontological dimensions of learning. A total of 14 in‐service elementary teachers conducted an 8‐week‐long inquiry into students' conceptual learning as a professional development course project. Major data sources included the teachers' reports on their students' prior ideas, lesson plans with justifications, student performance artifacts, video‐recorded teaching episodes, and final reports on their analyses of student learning. The findings demonstrated three epistemologically distinct ways the teachers interpreted and utilized students' prior ideas. These supported Kinchin's epistemological categories of perspectives on teaching including positivist, misconceptions, and systems views. On the basis of Chi's and Thagard's theories of conceptual change, the teachers' ontological understanding of conceptual learning was differentiated in two ways. Some teachers taught a unit to change the ontological nature of student ideas, whereas the others taught a unit within the same ontological categories of student ideas. The findings about teachers' various ways of utilizing students' prior ideas in their instructional practices suggested a number of topics to be addressed in science teacher education such as methods of utilizing students' cognitive resources, strategies for purposeful use of counter‐evidence, and understanding of ontological demands of learning. Future research questions were suggested. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1292–1317, 2007     

Canadian and Japanese teachers' conceptions of critical thinking: a comparative study

Canadian and Japanese secondary teachers' conceptions of critical thinking were compared and contrasted. Significant cross‐cultural differences were found. While Canadian teachers tended to relate critical thinking to the cognitive domain, Japanese teachers emphasized the affective domain. The quantitative data, effectively reduced through factor analysis, showed a clear distinction and significant difference between Canadian and Japanese teachers on four of the five factors—Canadian teachers viewed critical thinking through Cognitive Strategizing and Relevance, while Japanese teachers favoured Conscientious Judgements and Intellectual Engagement. However, through further qualitative analysis, critical thinking was found to be a tacit and implicit teaching practice supported by most teachers surveyed, irrespective of gender, age, teaching experience, subject area and, most importantly, the cultures from which they came.