Learning to use scientific concepts

Wells, Gordon

doi:10.1007/s11422-008-9100-6

Cited by 50 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…When individuals do not possess the scientific knowledge that is part of cultural literacy, mastering scientific concepts is best achieved through invested participation (Wells 2008). A field study involving peoples' relationships with surrounding environments is one method of teaching and learning with an extra incentive.…”

Section: The Sample Investigatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaving the classroom: a didactic framework for education in environmental sciences

Dopico

García‐Vázquez

2010

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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In Continuous Education curricula in Spain, the programs on sciences of the environment are aimed toward understandings of sustainability. Teaching practice rarely leaves the classroom for outdoor field studies. At the same time, teaching practice is generally focused on examples of how human activities are harmful for ecosystems. From a pedagogic point of view, it is less effective to teach environmental science with negative examples such as catastrophe, tragedy, and crisis. Rather, teaching environmental sciences and sustainable development might be focused on positive human-environment relationships, which is both important for the further development of students and educators. Within rural settings, there are many such examples of positive relationships that can be emphasized and integrated into the curriculum. In this article, we propose teaching environmental sciences through immersion in rural cultural life. We discuss how fieldwork serves as a learning methodology. When students are engaged through research with traditional cultural practices of environmental management, which is a part of the real and traditional culture of a region, they better understand how positive pedagogy instead of pedagogy structured around how not-to-do examples, can be used to stimulate the interactions between humans and the environment with their students. In this way, cultural goods serve as teaching resources in science and environmental education. What we present is authentic cases where adults involved in a course of Continuous Education explore 'environmentally-friendly' practices of traditional agriculture in Asturias (north of Spain), employing methodologies of cultural studies.

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Section: The Sample Investigatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaving the classroom: a didactic framework for education in environmental sciences

Dopico

García‐Vázquez

2010

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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“…Research in concept learning and conceptual change tend to emphasize on conception and have devised methods (mostly interviews) in assessing whether students have developed an inner conception that is in accordance with current scientific views. However, the ontological status of concepts as social constructs and cultural artifacts is seldom addressed (Wells, 2008). Consequently, less attention is given to the external representations developed by teachers, textbook authors, or software designers, as well as the classroom interactions that occur in conjunction with the use of these external representations.…”

Section: Conceptions As Mental Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reassembling Curricular Concepts: A Multimodal Approach to the Study of Curriculum and Instruction

Tang

2010

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

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Based on the multidisciplinary field of multimodality, this paper offers a theoretical perspective on the construct of a curricular concept which is commonly used in a school curriculum and applies it to an analysis of a typical curricular text and classroom instruction that exposit the physics concept of work-energy. Theorizing a concept as a network of meaning relationships across multiple modes of representation situated in human activity, this approach examines how we can recognize the meaning constructed through the semantic relationships of language and its contextualization with pictorial, graphical, and numerical resources. The value of this approach to curriculum and instruction in formal educational settings is also presented.

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“…Este artigo provocativo montou o palco para um acalorado debate entre os membros das duas perspectivas. A questão central desse debate, de modo mais geral, diz respeito à possibilidade de reconciliação entre as descrições cognitivas e situativas da mudança conceitual (Alexander, 2007;Greeno & Sande, 2007;Hewson, 2008;Mercer, 2007Mercer, , 2008Roth, 2008;Smardom, 2008;Tiberghien, 2008;Treagust & Duit, 2008a;Wells, 2008;Vosniadou, 2007aVosniadou, , 2008a.…”

Section: As Abordagens Cognitiva E Situativaunclassified

Um Panorama da Pesquisa Internacional sobre Mudança Conceitual

Pereira¹

2017

RBPEC

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Apresentamos quatro distinções básicas para revisar a pesquisa internacional sobre mudança conceitual: (1) as abordagens clássica e reenquadrada à mudança conceitual; (2) as perspectivas da coerência e da fragmentação do conhecimento intuitivo; (3) as tendências frias e aquecidas na pesquisa em mudança conceitual; (4) as abordagens cognitiva e situativa à cognição humana. De acordo com essas distinções, a mudança conceitual não é uma substituição de uma concepção por outra, mas sim o uso de uma concepção adequada de acordo com o contexto. Além disso, as concepções são descritas não apenas em termos de estruturas do tipo teoria, mas também em termos de conhecimento em pedaços. Adicionalmente, a mudança conceitual não é vista como um processo puramente racional, mas sim como algo que envolve aspectos motivacionais e fatores contextuais de sala de aula. Finalmente, a mudança conceitual envolve não apenas a mente individual, mas também um conjunto de artefatos e sistemas simbólicos disponíveis em contextos socioculturais particulares.Palavras-chave: mudança conceitual; controvérsias; revisão da literatura.In this paper, we present four basic distinctions to review the modern research on conceptual change: (1) the classical and re-framed approaches to conceptual change; (2) the coherence and fragmentation perspectives of intuitive knowledge; (3) the cold and warming trends in conceptual change research; (4) the cognitive and situative approaches to human cognition. According to these distinctions, conceptual change is not a matter of replacing one conception with another, but of evoking an appropriate conception depending on the context. In this connection, conceptions are described not only in terms of theory-like structures, but also in terms of knowledge in pieces. In addition, conceptual change is not viewed as a purely rational process, but rather as a process involving motivation and classroom contextual factors. Finally, conceptual change involves not only individual minds, but also a set of artifacts and symbolic systems available in particular socio-cultural contexts.

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Learning to use scientific concepts

Cited by 50 publications

References 18 publications

Leaving the classroom: a didactic framework for education in environmental sciences

Leaving the classroom: a didactic framework for education in environmental sciences

Reassembling Curricular Concepts: A Multimodal Approach to the Study of Curriculum and Instruction

Um Panorama da Pesquisa Internacional sobre Mudança Conceitual

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