Conceptual Change Teaching Research Articles

Effect of instruction based on conceptual change text on students' understanding of fluid pressure concept

This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of conceptual change text-oriented instruction and traditionally designed physics instruction on eighth-grade students’ understanding of fluid pressure concept and their attitudes toward physics as a school subject. Misconceptions related to fluid pressure concept were determined by related literature on this subject. Accordingly, the fluid pressure concepts test was developed. The data were obtained through 30 students in the experimental group taught with learning activities based on conceptual change instruction, and 32 students in control group followed traditional classroom instruction. The results showed that conceptual change text-oriented instruction caused significantly better acquisition of conceptual change of fluid pressure concept than the traditional instruction. Furthermore, treatment difference did not indicate a significant effect on students’ attitudes toward physics as a school subject.

CONCEPTUAL CHANGE TEXTS IN CHEMISTRY TEACHING: A STUDY ON THE PARTICLE MODEL OF MATTER

This study explores the effect of a conceptual change text on students’ awareness of common misconceptions on the particle model of matter. The conceptual change text was designed based on principles of text comprehensibility, of conceptual change instruction and of instructional approaches how to introduce the particle model. It was evaluated in an empirical study with 214 students. Students’ learning was measured with a pre–post-test design. Item response theory was used for analysing students’ answers. We found that reading the criteria-based text fostered students’ awareness of common misconceptions about the particle model and yielded overall improved results as compared to reading a traditional text.

Conceptual Change in Science: A Process of Argumentation

Learning is a process of knowledge construction, individually and socially. It has both rational and irrational features. From this stance, the paper reviews an earlier model of conceptual change and its related pedagogical interventions for their inadequate attention to the irrational and social dimensions of learning. More recent developments in conceptual change pedagogy advocate the incorporation of motivational constructs and social-cultural factors, but fail to explicitly address some important issues in science education. In order to advance the conceptual change theory, the paper proposes an argument approach to teaching for conceptual change. It embraces what past models or approaches have achieved while simultaneously addressing their shortcomings.

The Effect of Conceptual Change Pedagogy on Students’ Conceptions of Rate of Reaction

This paper reports on an investigation of the effect of conceptual change pedagogy on students’ conceptions of ‘rate of reaction’ concepts. The study used a pre-test/post-test non-equivalent comparison group design approach and the sample consisted of 72 Turkish grade-11 students (aged 16–18 years) selected from two intact classrooms. The ‘Rate of Reaction’ Concept Test comprising 9 lead and 10 sub-questions (total 19 items) was employed. The results suggest that the teaching intervention helped the students to overcome their alternative conceptions and to store their newly structured knowledge in their long-term memories. It is suggested that combining different conceptual change methods such conceptual change text/refutation text, argumentation with the intervention used here may be more effective in reducing student alternative conceptions.

Effect of conceptual change instruction on students' understanding of electricity concepts

This study focuses on students' misconceptions regarding static electricity, the effectiveness of conceptual change instruction on students' understanding of static electricity and their attitudes towards physics. Conceptual change and traditional instruction methods were used as teaching methods in the study. The results showed that the students have misconceptions and the experimental group students performed better with respect to the success in eliminating the misconception compared to the control group. In addition, it has been found that there was no significant difference between the attitudes of students in the experimental and control groups both before and after teaching. Teaching strategies can be used to determine the misconceptions and enhance students' understanding.

IS THE AGE OF THE EARTH ONE OF OUR “SOREST TROUBLES?” STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT DEEP TIME AFFECT THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

When Charles Darwin was developing his ideas for On the Origin of Species, the most widely accepted estimates of Earth’s age were those of William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin). Kelvin used calculations involving thermodynamics to argue that Earth is only 20–100 million years old—an age far too brief to accommodate evolution by natural selection. Darwin referred to Thomson’s claim as one of his “sorest troubles,” for Darwin understood that the history of life on Earth ultimately relies on geology. Darwin suspected that Earth was much older than Thomson claimed, but Thomson’s enormous stature as a scientist obliged Darwin to reconcile his claims with Kelvin’s data. To accommodate Kelvin’s timeline, Darwin proposed pangenesis as an explanation of inheritance (i.e., every sperm and egg contained “gemmules thrown off from each different unit throughout the body”). Darwin’s explanation sped evolution while avoiding Lamarck’s quasi-spiritual sources of acquired traits. However, Darwin’s explanation of inheritance was wrong (see discussion in Moore et al. 2009a). The age of Earth remains a divisive topic in the modern evolution–creationism controversy. Whereas mainstream science has long acknowledged that Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old, a vocal group of citizens and religious activists continue to insist that Earth is less than 10,000 years old. Although most geocentrists and flat-Earth advocates have capitulated to scientific evidence, young-Earth creationists continue to reject scientific evidence in favor of religious dictum to claim that Earth is less than 10,000 years old. These antiscience claims have been surprisingly popular with the public. For example, a Gallup Poll in early 2009 reported that “On Darwin’s [200th] Birthday, Only 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution” (Newport 2009), and Berkman et al. (2008) noted that “16% [of biology teachers] believed that human beings were created by God in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.” In another study, 12.5% of students were young-Earth creationists (Rutledge and Warden 2000), as are 10%–14% of biology majors (Moore and Cotner 2009). Answers in Genesis’ (AiG) Creation Museum, along with the $27 million in donations required to build it, attest to the appeal of young-Earth creationism. Indeed, AiG’s income for 2005 exceeded $13 million, and that of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR, another religious organization based on young-Earth creationism) exceeded $7 million. For comparison, the 2005 income of National Center for Science Education—the nation’s leading organization that defends the teaching of evolution in public schools—was

The Interactions of Conceptions of Teaching Science and Environmental Factors to Produce Praxis in Three Novice Teachers of Science

One strategy for implementing learner-centered teaching is through the preparation of teachers and their induction into the profession. This article presents case studies of three secondary science teachers that follow them from their science teacher education program that advocated teaching for conceptual change as one approach to learner-centered teaching into their first years of teaching. The article’s purpose is to describe the teachers’ initial conceptions of teaching science carried over from their teacher preparation program, and how they integrated those conceptions with the environmental influences of their classrooms and schools to produce praxis. Data were collected from the participants in several different ways during the participants’ pre-service year and during their first year or two of teaching: Observation of the participants’ teaching; related interviews with participants; and their action research journals. As they approached the end of their first or second year of teaching, all three teachers demonstrated increased levels of confidence in their teaching competence, both in their classroom performance and their places in their departments and schools. None of them had, however, fully implemented conceptual change teaching approach that was the specific goal of their teacher preparation program.

High school students' understanding of projectile motion concepts

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of conceptual change-based instruction and traditionally designed physics instruction on students' understanding of projectile motion concepts. Misconceptions related to projectile motion concepts were determined by related literature on this subject. Accordingly, the Projectile Motion Concepts Test was developed. The data were obtained through 43 students in an experimental group taught with learning activities based on conceptual change instruction and 39 students in a control group who followed traditional classroom instruction. The results showed that conceptual change-based instruction caused significantly better acquisition of conceptual change of projectile motion concepts than the traditional instruction.

Teaching for Conceptual Change in Security Awareness: A Case Study in Higher Education

In educational psychology, conceptual change is a process that revises a student's understanding of a topic in response to new information. Conceptual change pedagogy is particularly effective for security awareness education because instructors must deliver concepts to people who primarily just use computer networks and information systems rather than display expertise in the underlying technology.

Science Instruction in the Context of Christian Faith

There is a need to know more about the effective strategies that science faculty in a Christian, faith-based institution use to assist their undergraduate students in dealing with the apparent conflict between science and faith. The purpose of this study was to analyze how these faculty members develop scientifically literate students. Through the effective use of conceptual-change teaching strategies (given time using them to teach content), through meaningful reflection and conversations, and by building a sense of trust, a faculty member can increase the science literacy of the student.

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

AbstractThe 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

Effectiveness of conceptual change instruction on understanding of heat and temperature concepts

This study investigated the differential effects of two modes of instructional program (conceptual change oriented and traditionally designed) and gender difference on students' understanding of heat and temperature concepts, and their attitudes toward science as a school subject. The subjects of this study consisted of 72 seventh grade students from two General Science Classes taking the course from the same teacher. Each teaching method was randomly assigned to one class. The experimental group received reinforcement via the conceptual change texts while the control group utilized traditionally designed science texts over a period of four weeks. Analysis of covariance was used. Logical thinking ability was taken as a covariate. The results showed that the conceptual change oriented instruction produced significantly greater achievement in understanding of heat and temperature concepts. The result for science attitudes as a school subject showed no significant difference between the experimental and control groups. Also, no significant difference was found between the performance of females and that of males in terms of learning heat and temperature concepts and attitudes toward science, but the interaction of treatment regarding to gender was significant for learning the concepts. In addition, it was found that students' logical thinking ability accounted for a significant portion of variation in heat and temperature concepts achievement.

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers Bridge the Gap Between Research and Practice

The goal of this study was to examine the two related links of research to teaching practice and teaching practice to research that pre-service elementary teachers made during an action research project focusing on a conceptual-change teaching experience with elementary school students. Data were collected from the final written reports from 144 groups of students. Analysis of the data by the process of grounded theory showed that the majority of students (96%) were able to link current educational research successfully to their teaching practice while fewer students (16%) were able to link their teaching practice back to the research base. Many students (30%), however, found new knowledge in the form of identifying new misconceptions or finding previously reported misconceptions with new populations or confirming prior research. Preliminary results (n = 17) based on the changes to the course showed significant improvement.

Promoting Reflection among Science Student Teachers using a Web-based Video Analysis Tool

Recent efforts to design teacher education experiences using reflection as a philosophical orientation (Abell & Bryan, 1997) have shown that such experiences are influencing the way that teachers think about their practice, specifically teachers’ personal beliefs about teaching and learning. In this paper, we introduce the design and implementation of a video analysis tool that we are using to promote self-reflection and collaborative reflection in capstone courses for student teachers. Our use of this video analysis tool, VAT (VAT.uga.edu/), is based on a theoretically grounded rationale that draws on the parallels between conceptual change teaching (Posner, Strike, Hewson, & Gertzog, 1982) and coaching reflective practice. The description of our VAT implementation in student teaching courses is organized according to the three elements of the parallels between conceptual change learning and reflection in teacher development. In addition, we discuss the central role and necessity of student teachers working through tensions in thinking in the processes of learning to teach and refining one’s practices.

Integrative medicine: implementation and evaluation of a professional development program using experiential learning and conceptual change teaching approaches

Objective To meet the increasing patient interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), conventional physicians need to understand CAM, be willing to talk with their patients about CAM, and be open to recommending selected patients to appropriate CAM modalities. We aimed to raise physicians’ awareness of, and initiate attitudinal changes towards CAM in the context of integrative medical practice. We developed and implemented a professional development program involving experiential learning and conceptual change teaching approaches. Methods A randomized controlled study with a pre-post design in a large academic medical center. The 8-hour intervention used experiential and conceptual change educational approaches. Forty-eight cardiologists were randomized to participant and control groups. A questionnaire measured physicians’ conceptions of, and attitudes to CAM, the likelihood of changing practice patterns, and the factors most important in influencing such changes. The questionnaire included an embedded control question on a topic that was not the focus of this program. We administered the questionnaire before (pretest) and after (posttest) the intervention. We compared differences in pre- and post-intervention scores between the participant ( N = 20) and control ( N = 16) groups. We used both groups to identify factors that influenced their practice patterns. The study was NIH-funded and IRB-exempt. Results Both groups initially had little knowledge about, and negative attitudes to CAM. The participant group had significant positive changes in their conceptions about, and attitudes to CAM after the program, and significant improvements when compared with the control group. Participant physicians significantly increased in their willingness to integrate CAM in their practices. Physicians (combined groups) rated research evidence as the most important factor influencing their willingness to integrate CAM. They requested more research evidence for CAM efficacy, and more information on non-conventional pharmacology. Participants reflected enthusiasm for the experiential program. Conclusions The participants were able to experience the positive effects of selected CAM modalities. It is possible to increase physician knowledge and change attitudes towards integrative medicine with an eight-hour intervention using experiential and conceptual change teaching approaches. Practice implications Professional development on integrative medicine can be offered to medical practitioners using experiential learning and conceptual change teaching approaches, with the help of local CAM practitioners.

Process based investigations of conceptual development: an explorative study

Research on conceptual change is still a powerful framework for empirical investigations on students' learning of science. During recent years, an increasing body of research has explored students' concepts prior and subsequent to instruction, leading to an extensive documentation of students' concepts including the difficulties and opportunities of teaching for conceptual change. Though the research on conceptual change can inform practitioners about students' ideas of science and students' learning difficulties, little is known about the processes of conceptual development and students' use of developed concepts. Exploring the nature of the processes may help to understand what kind of concepts appear plausible and fruitful to students and how students apply their knowledge to scientific tasks. In order to investigate processes of the development of concepts, videoing a total of 45 students from grades 8 and 11 was carried out while they were working on physics tasks in small groups. The dimensions of content, level of abstraction, and time were used to describe the quality of students' situated knowledge as well as usage and changes of the knowledge when students were confronted with similar tasks. Assuming the notion “concept” refers to rule-based knowledge, the dimension of abstraction was used to distinguish between concrete (non-conceptual) and rule-based (conceptual) knowledge. Results on the processes indicate that most of the high school students' activities did not refer to conceptual knowledge. Moreover, explanations based on physics concepts which were offered to the students were rarely used. Furthermore, if students came up with conceptual descriptions of occurring phenomena, these descriptions showed a high variability in their content.

Enhancing Students' Understanding of Photosynthesis and Respiration in Plant Through Conceptual Change Approach

This study investigated the effectiveness of combining conceptual change text and discussion web strategies on students' understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Students' conceptual understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants was measured using the two-tier diagnostic test developed by Haslam and Treagust (1987, Journal of Biological Education 21: 203--211). The test was administered as pretest and posttest to a total of 233 eighth-grade students in six intact classes of the same school located in an urban area. The test of logical thinking was used to determine the reasoning ability of students. The experimental group was a class of 116 students received discussion web and conceptual change text instruction. A class of 117 students comprised the control group received a traditional instruction. After instruction, data were analyzed with two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using the Test of Logical Thinking and pretest scores as covariate. The conceptual change instruction, which explicitly dealt with students' misconceptions, produced significantly greater achievement in understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plant concepts. Analysis also revealed a significant difference between performance of females and that of males in the favor of females, but the interaction of treatment with gender difference was not significant for learning the concepts.

Teacher candidates’ epistemological beliefs, dispositions, and views on teaching as persuasion

Alexander and her colleagues proposed teaching as persuasion as a guiding metaphor for conceptual change pedagogy ( Alexander, Fives, Buehl, & Mulhern, 2002). However, there is reason to suspect that the term persuasion can have negative connotations for some individuals ( Dole & Sinatra, 1999; Murphy, 2001). Therefore, we examined 182 primarily preservice teachers’ views of teaching as persuasion, and related those views to their openness/resistance to new ideas as measured by selected epistemological belief scales and dispositional measures. Consistent with our hypotheses, our results indicated that teacher candidates who believed that knowledge evolves, that beliefs can be revised, and that learning is a process of constructing knowledge were more open to persuasive teaching. Our findings provide support for Murphy’s (2001) view of persuasion and suggest further that the teaching as persuasion metaphor would be more successful embedded in an instructional context designed to broaden teachers’ epistemological worldviews.

Using the conceptual change instruction to improve learning

This study investigated the effect of conceptual change instruction on Grade 11 students' (aged 16–17 years) understanding of respiration. To first determine students' misconceptions, ten Grade 11 students were interviewed and data obtained from these interviews and related literature was used to develop the Respiration Concept Test used in the next stage of the research. The test was administered to a total of 68 Grade 11 students in two classes of an urban high school. The experimental group consisted of 34 students, 18 boys and 16 girls, who received conceptual change instruction; the control group was made up of 34 students, 19 boys and 15 girls. The control group received traditional instruction in which the teacher provided instruction through lecture and discussion methods. Prior to instruction, students in both groups were pre-tested in order to determine their previous understanding of respiration. The results revealed that students in both groups had an equal understanding of respiration. After instruction, data were analysed with two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using science process skill scores as a covariate. Results indicated that students' science process skills accounted for a significant portion of variation in respiration concepts achievement. The conceptual change instruction, which explicitly dealt with students' misconceptions, produced significantly greater achievement in the understanding of respiration concepts. This analysis also revealed a significant difference between the performance of females and that of males in the favour of females, but there was no significant interaction between treatment and gender difference.

A Conceptual Change Teaching Strategy to Facilitate High School Students' Understanding of Electrochemistry

Recent research in chemistry education has shown an increasing interest in the facilitation of conceptual change in student understanding of chemical concepts. Most of the studies have tried to show the difference in student performance on algorithmic and conceptual problems. The objective of this study is to go beyond and design a teaching strategy based on two “teaching experiments” that could facilitate students' conceptual understanding of electrochemistry. The study is based on two sections (control, n = 29; experimental, n = 28) of 10th grade high school students at a public school in Venezuela. Experimental group participated in two teaching experiments designed to generate situations/experiences in which students are forced to grapple with alternative responses leading to cognitive conflicts/contradictions. Results obtained show that learning electrochemistry involves both algorithmic and conceptual problems. On Posttest 1, 93% of the experimental group students responded correctly, in contrast to 39% of the control group. On Posttest 2, 39% of the experimental group responded correctly, in contrast to 0% of the Control group. The difference in performance on both posttests is statistically significant (p < 0.001). It is concluded that the “teaching experiments” facilitated students' understanding (progressive transitions) of electrochemistry.