Abstract
In this essay, I compare and contrast four views of conceptual change—Vosniadou’s synthetic meaning view, Chi and Roscoe’s misconception repair view, diSessa’s knowledge-in-pieces view, and Ivarsson, Schoultz, and Säljö’s sociocultural view. In particular, I compare these four views in terms of what changes during conceptual change, who changes, how the change occurs, where the change takes place, the role of prior knowledge, and whether their is research evidence. As a conclusion, I offer a proposal for reconciling alternative views of conceptual change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Chi, M. T. H. (2000). Self-explaining expository texts: The dual processes of generating inferences and repairing mental models. In R. Glaser (Ed.), Advances in instructional psychology (vol. 5, pp. 161–238). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
diSessa, A. A. (2000). Changing minds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Mayer, R. E. (2000). Conceptual change. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 253–255). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Mayer, R. E. (1997). Searching for the perfect ism: An unproductive activity for educational research. Issues in Education, 3, 225–228.
Mayer, R. E. (2001). Changing conceptions of learning: A century of progress in the scientific study of education. In L. Corno (Ed.), Education across a century: The centennial volume—One hundredth yearbook of the National Society for the study of Education (pp. 34–75). Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education.
Vosniadou S., & Brewer, W. F. (1992). Mental meanings of the earth: A study of conceptual change in childhood. Cognitive Psychology, 24, 535–585.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mayer, R.E. (2002). Understanding Conceptual Change: A Commentary. In: Limón, M., Mason, L. (eds) Reconsidering Conceptual Change: Issues in Theory and Practice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47637-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47637-1_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-0494-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-306-47637-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive