Reconsidering Conceptual Change: Issues in Theory and Practice

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Theoretical Perspectives

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Processes and Challenges of Conceptual Change

      • Michelene T. H. Chi, Rod D. Roscoe

      Pages 3-27

   3. Why “Conceptual Ecology” is a Good Idea

      • Andrea A. Disessa

      Pages 28-60

   4. On the Nature of Naïve Physics

      • Stella Vosniadou

      Pages 61-76

   5. Map Reading Versus Mind Reading

      • Jonas Ivarsson, Jan Schoultz, Roger Säljö

      Pages 77-99

   6. Understanding Conceptual Change: A Commentary

      • Richard E. Mayer

      Pages 101-111

3. Motivational, Social and Contextual Aspects

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 113-113

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   2. The Role of Motivational Beliefs in Conceptual Change

      • Elizabeth A. Linnenbrink, Paul R. Pintrich

      Pages 115-135

   3. Situating the Question of Conceptual Change

      • Ola Halldén, Gunilla Petersson, Max Scheja, Karin Ehrlén, Liza Haglund, Karolina Österlind et al.

      Pages 137-148

   4. Participative Learning and Conceptual Change

      • Malka Gorodetsky, Shoshana Keiny

      Pages 149-163

   5. Cognitive Variability in the Development of the Concept of Family: A Contextualist or a Gradualist View?

      • María José Rodrigo, Beatriz Triana, María Isabel Simón

      Pages 164-185

   6. Motivational, Social, and Contextual Aspects of Conceptual Change: A Commentary

      • Gale M. Sinatra

      Pages 187-197

4. Domain Specificity and Learning

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 199-199

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   2. The Role of Students’ Epistemological Knowledge in the Process of Conceptual Change in Science

      • John Leach, Jenny Lewis

      Pages 201-216

   3. Intuitive Rules: the Case of “More A — More B”

      • Ruth Stavy, Pessia Tsamir, Dina Tirosh

      Pages 217-231

   4. Conceptual Change in Mathematics: Understanding the Real Numbers

      • Kaarina Merenluoto, Erno Lehtinen

      Pages 232-257

   5. Conceptual Change in History

      • Margarita Limón

      Pages 259-289

   6. Content and Conceptual Change: A Commentary

      • Richard White

      Pages 291-297

5. Instructional Practices to Promote Conceptual Change in the Classroom

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 299-299

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The chapters in this volume derive from a symposium held in Madrid, Spain, from 6-8 November, 1998. Organized and supported by the Autónoma University of Madrid, the meeting was part of the activities of the Special Interest Group (SIG) on Conceptual Change of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), coordinated by the editors of this book. The volume brings together contributions from leading researchers investigating the role of conceptual change to enhance meaningful learning in the classroom. The aim of the volume is to present the state of the art on a topic that has become very relevant to explaining how students, and people in general, build their knowledge and incorporate new concepts and ideas. The volume keeps the four main sessions in which the symposium was articulated. They were structured around both theoretical and practical issues of conceptual change. Particular attention was paid to discussing the characteristics of individuals’ prior knowledge and to the more recent topic of how to integrate social, motivational and contextual aspects of learning within conceptual change research (Parts 1 and 2).

• Action
• Motivation
• interaction
• learning
• learning and instruction

"In summary, there is much in this book to inform the reader about how the field of conceptual change has moved beyond the issues identified in the simple illustration with which I began this review. In doing so, it provides more than enough to stimulate a considerable amount of productive discussion."
(Peter Hewson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (Science Education, 87:4)

• Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, Spain

  Margarita Limón

• University of Padova, Italy

  Lucia Mason

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