Perspectives Future Research in Conceptual Change for Science Education: Systematic Literature Review

Meaningful learning for conceptual change in science education should aim to help students change their existing misconceptions to develop an accurate understanding of scientific concepts. Although collaborative argumentation is assumed to support such processes, its value for conceptual change is unclear. Moreover, the roles of argumentative dialogue should be considered in studies on collaborative argumentation. In the present study, using a controlled experiment, we examined the value of collaborative argumentation for conceptual change in science education while fully considering the roles of argumentative dialogue. Twenty-three postgraduate students were each allocated to one of two conditions (individual argumentation [control group] and collaborative argumentation [experimental group]) and participated in two argumentation activities. The results revealed that collaborative argumentation had a delayed but long-lasting effect on conceptual change in science education (i.e., conceptual change induced by collaborative argumentation did not immediately indicate a significant improvement at the moments of argumentation but showed a significant improvement during the delay period). Collaborative argumentation provided opportunities for change in cognitive, ontological, intentional, and other aspects of learning. Dialogue protocol analysis revealed that long-lasting conceptual change was associated with a U-shaped pattern of argumentative dialogue (i.e., two high and one low: both deliberative argumentation and co-consensual construction frequently occurred, while disputative argumentation rarely occurred) in collaborative argumentation. A third argumentation activity was then conducted to confirm this unexpected finding. The results confirmed an association between long-lasting conceptual change and a U-shaped pattern of argumentative dialogue in collaborative argumentation. The current study sheds light on the value of collaborative argumentation for long-lasting conceptual change, deepening our understanding of whether conceptual gains from argumentation activities were contingent on a particular type of verbal dialogue powered by collaborative argumentation. Implications for science education were discussed.

The use of texts in science classrooms has waned significantly over the past two decades. However, recently, researchers have shown renewed interest in the use of refutation texts as a tool for promoting conceptual change and science learning. In this article, we examine the intersection of conceptual change and reading comprehension research in science education. We begin by explaining how researchers in conceptual change have turned their interests toward text comprehension. We then examine models of reading comprehension that contribute to our understanding of how text can promote science learning in general and conceptual change in particular. Next, we examine recent empirical research concerning the effect of refutation text in promoting conceptual change in science. We close with suggestions for future research that seeks to integrate these two areas for the advancement of both scientific literacy and literacy skill development.

Scientific argumentation as a scientific practice has become an important issue in scientific concept learning. We systematically searched five databases to assess the potential of scientific argumentation to promote multidimensional conceptual change in science education. The systematic literature search and coding of studies were carried out by two independent reviewers. Our search uncovered 12 experimental studies that investigated 12 different types of scientific argumentation-based instructions (scientific argumentation-based instructions in this study referred to lesson activities). With the multidimensional framework of conceptual change developed by McLure, F., Won, M., & Treagust, D. F. ((2020), we performed a narrative synthesis assessing how each type of scientific argumentation-based instruction affected conceptual change through cognitive, ontological and intentional dimensions of learning. Our narrative synthesis suggests scientific argumentation might affect conceptual change through enhancing those dimensions of learning to varying degrees. Moreover, certain added scaffoldings might be particularly useful for enhancing a certain dimension of learning. Finally, the meta-analysis (random effect model) showed that overall, scientific argumentation-based instructions had a large positive influence on conceptual change (Hedge’s g = 10.49 [7.27, 13.71], I2 = 47%). Overall results indicated that scientific argumentation had the potential to improve conceptual change through offering opportunities for cognitive, ontological and intentional dimensions of learning.

This article explores school leadership for elementary school science teaching in an urban setting. We examine how school leaders bring resources together to enhance science instruction when there appear to be relatively few resources available for it. From our study of 13 Chicago elementary (K–8) schools' efforts to lead instructional change in mathematics, language arts, and science education, we show how resources for leading instruction are unequally distributed across subject areas. We also explore how over time leaders in one school successfullyidentifiedandactivatedresources for leading change in science education. The result has been a steady, although not always certain, development of science as an instructional area in the school. We argue that leading change in science education involves the identification and activation of material resources, the development of teachers' and school leaders' human capital, and the development and use of social capital. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 918–940, 2001

Science EducationVolume 70, Issue 4 p. 413-425 Issues & Trends “Conceptual change in science education: Paradigms and language-games” David Stenhouse, David Stenhouse Senior Lecturer in Science Education, Massey University, Palmerston North, New ZealandSearch for more papers by this author David Stenhouse, David Stenhouse Senior Lecturer in Science Education, Massey University, Palmerston North, New ZealandSearch for more papers by this author First published: July 1986 https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.3730700407Citations: 12AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume70, Issue4July 1986Pages 413-425 RelatedInformation

This chapter reviews the current research on conceptual change in science education. The review includes research located in the DoRise system (Database of Research in Science Education) in Taiwan and articles published in selected international science education journals (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, International Journal of Science Education, Research in Science Education, and International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education) between 1982 and 2012. Three hundred and eighty-three articles in the international journals (including 26 English papers from researchers in Taiwan) and eighty-six articles from Taiwan were analyzed (60 and 26 articles from Taiwanese and international journals, respectively). There are five major findings. First, most of the research follows the empirical approach, regardless of it being an international or national article. Second, physics was the main discipline examined both in the international and national studies. Third, about two thirds of the studies from outside of Taiwan used epistemological perspective to frame and present their study. A similar percentage of articles investigated the instructional perspective whereas nearly two thirds of the Taiwanese articles investigated the instructional perspective and only 28 % followed the epistemological perspective. Fourth, as for the research method, we found that qualitative data analysis was ranked first among all the methods we investigated whereas Taiwan appeared to integrate both quantitative and qualitative methods. Fifth, as expected, high percentages of published researchers were from English-speaking countries (i.e., the USA, Australia, and the UK). Taiwan was ranked third out of 31 countries with respect to the number of publications in this study from 1982 to 2012 but was the first non-English-speaking country. Recommendations for researchers and educators are provided.

This systematic review is aimed to explore the researches that established students’conceptual change process, both studies that facilitate conceptual change and studies that determined learner characters influencing conceptual change. Overall, 50 studies were examined in this review. The current study focused on the common characteristics of the literature, the conceptual change instructional interventions used and the methods usedto assess them. This review generates four averments about the current study: (1) physics subjects have obtained more attention than other science domains; (2) the majority of studies were conducted on undergraduate students of various majors, not only science education students; (3) studies about conceptual change have developed from a cognitive-only perspective to metacognitive aspects; (4) design on conceptual change study has been dominated by quasi experiment with only pre- and post-intervention. Based on these averments, the authors invite the future empirical studies to consider affective variables in designing instructional approach, focus on examining pre-service science teachers’ conceptual change through the implementation of an instructional intervention, and apply qualitative data collection methods regarding affective and metacognitive variables through the implementation of an instructional intervention.

Underpinning science education reform movements in the last 20 years—at all levels and within all disciplines—is an explicit shift in the goals of science teaching from students simply creating a knowledge base of scientific facts to students developing deeper understandings of major concepts within a scientific discipline. For example, what use is a detailed working knowledge of the chemical reactions of the Krebs cycle without a deeper understanding of the relationship between these chemical reactions of cellular respiration and an organism’s need to harvest energy from food? This emphasis on conceptual understanding in science education reform has guided the development of standards and permeates all major science education reform policy docu

Review of Teaching Science for Understanding: A Human Constructivist View Edited by Joel J. Mintzes, James H. Wandersee, and Joseph D. Novak , 2005 , Academic Press , San Diego , Calif. , ISBN: 978-0-12-498361-8 ; and Assessing Science for Understanding: A Human Constructivist View Edited by Joel J. Mintzes, James H. Wandersee, and Joseph D. Novak , 2005 , Academic Press , San Diego , Calif. , ISBN: 978-0-12-088534-3 . The first part of the book Teaching Science for Understanding (chapters 1–3) begins with an overview of the changes in science education, “Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Human Constructivism” is a brief introduction to theory and research in science education based on a Human Constructivist view of learning. The second part of the book (chapters 4–12), “Theory-Driven Intervention Strategies”, authored by an internationally recognized group of leading science educators and researchers, presents a review of each major instructional strategy, information about how it is best used, and the effectiveness of the strategies for understanding and retention of information. This section exhibits the main strategies used to achieve this depth of understanding, including the use of several graphic organizers, analogies, computer simulations, small laboratories, and journal writing, and it discusses how to use each strategy at the elementary, secondary, and college levels, discussing both teaching and learning strategies for better understanding. Meaningful learning, metacognition, knowledge restructuring, and conceptual change are key themes in this section. The third section (chapter 13), “Epilogue: Meaningful Learning, Knowledge Restructuring, and Conceptual Change: On Ways of Teaching Science for Understanding”, presents a model designed to help teachers reflect on and evaluate new ways of teaching science for understanding. The authors state: “when schools and classrooms are finally organized around sound principles of knowledge construction and focused on meaning making, then and only then we can affirm that our schools do indeed have an authentic commitment to teaching and assessing science for understanding”. Assessing Science for Understanding is a companion volume to Teaching Science for Understanding, and explores how to assess whether learning has taken place. The book discusses a range of promising new and practical tools for assessment including concept maps, vee diagrams, clinical interviews, interactive protocols, problem sets, performance-based assessments, computer-based methods, visual and observational testing, portfolios, explanatory models, and national examinations. There is also a very good chapter on the psychometrics of assessing science understanding that carefully reviews the various issues involved in establishing reliability and validity of assessment measures. Each chapter has references, advanced organizers, and appropriate figures and adequately discusses the cognitive model used with the assessment device and the logic of its use. In the Epilogue, the authors state that: “good assessment practice must be built on a strong and intellectually defensible theory of human learning and knowledge construction”, “no single assessment technique by itself adequately reflects the entire multidimensional nature of understanding and conceptual change”, and “longitudinal assessment efforts that focus on knowledge restructuring are preferable to one-time measures of subject matter attainment”. These are timely and useful books for science educators, graduate students, teacher educators, curriculum developers, administrators, and researchers. The volumes are very readable, but the content is what makes them worth reading. Thus, I strongly recommend everyone involved with science teaching and learning to read them, dig into the references, reflect on the strategies and assessments within the book, and also reflect on teaching practice as they experiment with ways to improve it. Then, certainly, student learning will be enhanced.

Development of a two-tier diagnostic test concerning genetics concepts: the study of validity and reliability

The purpose of this study is to develop a science writing program regarding bacteria for elementary school students and to identify whether it can be used not only for an instructional strategy but also for analyzing conceptual change in science education. For the study, a science writing model was composed of five processes: searching, writing activity, opinion sharing, rewriting, and assessment. by which the writing program was constructed with seven topics on bacteria for elementary students. A total of twenty four students of 6th graders in public elementary school were participated in this program implementation. Three students who achieved their own different conception were selected by the test for Bacteria conception after the program and their writing products were collected. Their three different conceptual change patterns through the entire intervention were compared. It turned out that science writing was appropriate to be represented students' conceptual change undergoing. Their conceptual change patterns had been even getting sophisticated and refined gradually. Science writing in elementary science classes makes it possible for non-scientific concepts to turn into scientific ones and also can be used as a assessment tool analyzing the processes of conceptual change. This program can be used not only as an effective instructional strategy but also a assessment tool which can analyze the level and the degree of learning through observing the process of continual sophistication and refinement.

The current reality is that many learning activities have not been implemented effectively. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop TikTok-Based Multimedia on Climate Change Material in Science Learning in Junior High Schools. This type of research is development research using the Alessi and Trollip development model. The subjects of the study were grade VII junior high school students. The validation stages of the expert team's evaluation included learning design experts, learning media experts, and language experts. Data collection techniques in this study were observation, interviews, student needs questionnaires, walkthroughs, and tests. The instruments used in this study included media validation sheets, practicality instruments, and assessment tools. The data analysis techniques used were qualitative and quantitative descriptive analysis. The results of the study were the validity of the material, language, and media design aspects, each scoring 87%, 89%, and 93%, indicating high feasibility. Practicality was tested through one-on-one sessions, small groups, and field tests, with scores of 83.83% and 85.63%, respectively. The effectiveness of multimedia can be seen from the increase in student learning outcomes, with an average pretest score of 51.61% to a posttest of 86.61% and an N-Gain value of 0.72. It is concluded that TikTok-based multimedia is a valid, practical, and effective learning tool, providing an interesting approach to improving students' understanding of climate change in science education. These findings prove that TikTok-based multimedia is an educational tool that offers a dynamic and engaging approach to improving students' understanding of the concept of climate change in science education.

Science education research finds that children may generate misunderstandings about certain scientific concepts based on their personal experiences prior to formal schooling. These misconceptions may present students with learning difficulties and barriers to deep comprehension of scientific knowledge. In response to this issue, researchers advanced the method of conceptual change instruction to help students shift from scientifically incorrect pre-instructional knowledge structures to scientifically accepted ones (Pacaci et al., 2024). Conceptual change has been deemed an effective approach to boosting students’ science literacy by improving teaching and learning in science education (Duit & Treagust, 2003; Treagust & Duit, 2008). Duit contended that conceptual change was not about an exchange of pre-instructional conceptions for the science concepts, but rather conceptual learning pathways from students’ pre-instructional conceptions to the science concepts to be learned (Duit, 1999; Duit & Treagust, 2003). Conceptual change studies can be traced back to the 1970s. There have been diverse perceptions of conceptual change in researchers, leading to the development of a variety of conceptual change strategies in science education.

The question dealt with in this chapter regards the extent to which results from research on conceptual change in science education can be applied to other domains, and in particular that of history. In order to answer this question, we must examine the peculiarities of history and history teaching and their possible implications for conceptual change. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first part consists in a discussion of the characteristics of history concepts and how they may influence students’ prior knowledge. Particular attention is paid to second-order concepts (evidence, cause, explanation, empathy, etc.) that seem to play a crucial role in history understanding. In the second part, the peculiarities of history as a discipline and their implications for history teaching and learning are reviewed. The third part deals with the comparison between conceptual change in history and science. The characteristics of students’ prior knowledge and the goals of conceptual change in history and science are compared. Finally, some general conclusions are discussed.KeywordsPrior KnowledgeConceptual ChangeEpistemological BeliefFrench RevolutionHistorical ContentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

E-diorama plays an important role in education by providing a visual tool capable of improving student understanding. 3D representation of certain topics allows students to clearly see elements that are difficult to understand through conventional teaching methods. E-diorama of the Solar System is a topic that is particularly relevant in the context of education for students in form 2. The background of this study includes three important aspects that explain the importance and relevance of this topic to student learning. E-diorama of the solar system for form 2 students refers to an interactive education system that uses digital technology and animation. This method is to convey concepts and information related to the solar system to form 2 students more easily. Students face difficulties in describing and understanding the structure and elements in the solar system. This weakness in understanding can be a major obstacle to effective learning. The Solar System is a topic found in the learning syllabus including form 2. E-diorama refers to the use of digital technology to create a 3D model or simulation. The solar system e-diorama helps improve students' understanding of science concepts through an interactive media approach. Students can explore the structure and dynamics of the solar system in more depth by using digital technology. In conclusion, the Ediorama of the solar system is an innovation that has the potential to have a positive impact on the learning of form 2 students, especially in science subjects. The use of e-diorama not only diversifies the atmosphere of media learning and students' creativity, but also supports interactive learning and understanding of science and astronomy concepts.