Intuitive Theories—a Researcher's Dilemma: some practical methodological implications

Tan

2010

Tan. The insidious nature of 'hard core' alternative conceptions: Implications for the constructivist research programme of patterns in high school students' and pre-service teachers' thinking about ionisation energy.. AbstractThe present study contributes to the constructivist research programme (RP) into learning science by comparing patterns in responses from two groups of learnerssenior high schools students and pre-service teachers -in the same educational context (Singapore), to a diagnostic instrument relating to the topic of ionisation energies. This topic is currently included in the curriculum for 16-19 year-old students studying chemistry in Singapore (and elsewhere). The comparison shows that although (a) graduate pre-service teachers offered some types of incorrect responses less frequently than high school students; (b) they retained high levels of alternative conceptions commonly found among high school students; and -of particular note -(c) certain alternative conceptions were found to be more common among the graduates. This suggest the intuitive appeal of certain alternative conceptions is such that they can readily be reproduced down 'generations' of learners. The findings are explored in terms of a range of conceptual resources that have been developed within the constructivist RP. The analysis suggests that the curriculum sets out inappropriate target knowledge for senior high school students, given the nature of the subject matter and the prior learning of the students. It is also suggested that it may be fruitful to consider conceptual learning in terms analogous to the RP found in science, and that from this perspective certain insidious alternative conceptions can be understood as derived from commitments that are taken-for-granted and protected from explicit challenge by a protective belt of refutable auxiliary conceptions.

Section: Background To the Researchmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Researching Alternative Conceptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Insidious Nature of ‘Hard‐Core’ Alternative Conceptions: Implications for the constructivist research programme of patterns in high school students’ and pre‐service teachers’ thinking about ionisation energy

Tan

2010

“…Educational research has commonly been characterised as being of two main types, sometimes labelled as distinct paradigms , (Osborne & Wittrock, 1985;Pope & Denicolo, 1986;Smith, diSessa & Roschelle, 1993). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The choice of what is effectively a qualitative research technique was made because of the desire to investigate student thinking in depth, probing their own ways of describing and explaining phenomena (Author1 2006). Such idiographic approaches have long been recognised as necessary for fine-grained exploration of students' ideas (Osborne & Wittrock, 1985;Pope & Denicolo, 1986;Smith, diSessa & Roschelle, 1993). Given this necessary decision, and the resource and practical implications of an interview study, it was not possible to set out to build a large and representative sample that could claim to survey students' use of particle ideas in the English context.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary Students’ Thinking about Familiar Phenomena: Learners’ explanations from a curriculum context where ‘particles’ is a key idea for organising teaching and learning

Franco

2009

. Secondary students' thinking about familiar phenomena: learners' explanations from a curriculum context where 'particles' is a key idea for organising teaching and learning. International Journal of Science Education, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2009, 31 (14), pp.1917-1952 Secondary students' thinking about familiar phenomena: learners' explanations from a curriculum context where 'particles' is a key idea for organising teaching and learning. Abstract:Particle models of matter are widely recognised as being of fundamental importance in many branches of modern science, and particle ideas are commonly introduced and developed in the secondary school curriculum. However, research undertaken in a range of national contexts has identified significant learning difficulties in this topic, and suggests that notions of particles that match scientific models are generally only attained over periods of some years. A National Curriculum in Science was imposed in England over the period 1989-1993, and was later supplemented by increasingly prescriptive guidance to teachers. This culminated in a framework for teaching lower secondary science, which identified 'particles' as one of five key ideas for organising teaching and learning. In this curriculum context, a basic particle model is introduced at the start of secondary education, and consolidated by being revisited in various contexts over three years. The present paper reports an interview-about-events based study that explored the way English secondary students explained phenomena commonly met in school science. It was found that most students used the notion of particles in their responses, although most of their particle-based explanations reflected alternative conceptions that have been reported in previous research. It is concluded that a curriculum strategy of early introduction and regular application during the early secondary years is not sufficient to support the desired level of progression in thinking with particle concepts, and more sophisticated pedagogy is needed.

“…As Pope and Denicolo (1986) have discussed, the role of the analyst in qualitative work involves balancing the importance of detailed accounts directly drawing upon the words and ideas of the informants, with the need to provide reports which are concise and presented in ways to help the reader. The building of the case study took place in two stages, following a general approach used in the author's previous research (e.g.…”

Section: Analysis Of the Casementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Conceptual Integration in Student Thinking: Evidence from a case study

2008