THE PROBLEM OF THE TRANSITION FROM “NAIVE” TO SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS: CONCEPTUAL CHANGE APPROACH AND VYGOTSKY’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

The relevance of the paper — discussing an area of modern cognitive psychology, namely, conceptual change approach. It examines the origins of this approach: 1) the transition from «naïve» to «scientific» thinking in children as an applied task of primary and secondary school education; 2) the basic concepts and theoretical principles of this approach, such as «domain specificity» and «misconception». The goal. The study emphasizes the problems of implementation and theoretical analysis of the transition from one type of thinking to another, which the representatives of conceptual change approach/theory are faced with. Methods. The analysis of the «naive» concepts as integral systems («everyday theories») allows us to highlight the fundamental difference between the two strategies of analyzing the transition to scientific concepts described by L. Vygotsky. Results and conclusions. According to the first strategy, the scientific concepts supplant the everyday ones; the forms of everyday thinking (such as game) can be used to maintain weak original forms of scientific concepts. The opposite strategy, especially emphathized by L. Vygotsky, regards the process as not just a substitution, but a specific transformation of everyday theory. The closest approach to such transformation understanding is Elkonin-Davydov developmental education theory, which, nevertheless, implements this logic in a contradictory manner.

A LEARNING PROCESS BASED ON CONCEPTUAL CHANGE APPROACH TO FOSTER CONCEPTUAL CHANGE IN NEWTONIAN MECHANICS

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of conceptual change learning approach based on conceptual change model over traditional instruction on the improvement of physics education undergraduate students’ conceptual understanding in Newtonian mechanics. A quasi experimental research method with pre-test and post-test control group design was employed. The sample chosen based on purposive technique sampling comprising of 73 students was in two groups selected randomly each as experimental and control group. Predict-Observe-Explain-Apply (POEA) and using Conceptual Change Texts (CCT) strategies were implemented in the experimental group. The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) in Indonesian was used to collect data before and after treatments. The results show that the conceptual understandings of students who were taught using strategies under conceptual change approach was significantly better than those of the traditional approach. The research confirmed that only learning based on conceptual change model could improve learners’ Newtonian mechanics conceptual understanding. Key words: conceptual change approach, conceptual change texts, predict-observe-explain-apply, Newtonian mechanics.

TEACHING NATURE OF SCIENCE THROUGH CONCEPTUAL CHANGE APPROACH: CONCEPTUAL CHANGE TEXTS AND CONCEPT CARTOONS

The study investigated the influence of conceptual change approach on elementary students’ views of certain aspects of nature of science (NOS). In this study, conditions of conceptual change were provided through the use of conceptual change texts and concept cartoons. In addition, this study compared the influence of the conceptual change approach to that of the explicit reflective inquiry-oriented and implicit instructional approaches in the teaching of NOS. The research was conducted with seventh-grade students (aged 12-13 years) at a school in Turkey’s Aegean region. A total of 69 students participated in the study. The students’ views of NOS were assessed using a questionnaire, (the Views of Nature of Science Elementary Level Scale) as pre-test and post-test in conjunction with data from semi-structured interviews. This study reveals that the best way to remedy the naïve views of students on NOS is a conceptual change framework. Key words: conceptual change text, concept cartoon, explicit reflective approach, implicit approach, nature of science.

Exploring the Effectiveness of Student-Centeredness in Universities

The Bologna Process initiated by the European Commission in 1998 has stimulated change through the implementation of several education reforms. These reforms placed into action a series of curricular improvements geared towards the European Higher Education Convergence. More specifically, the introduction of the European Credit Accumulation and Transfer System (ECTS) aims to support more student-centred, more flexible, and more individually tailored education tracks. However, the student-centred policy, as a fundamental pillar towards the improvement of teaching, has been applied in a very simple and unclear fashion (Reichert & Tauch, 2003) without being properly understood by the academics themselves. This chapter reports on the importance of the conceptual change approach in the professional development of academics by arguing that the design of an effective student-centred learning environment may not be effectively achieved in practice in the absence of the academics' own conceptions of how they conceive, experience, and understand teaching. The possible mismatch between conceptions of teaching and actual teaching practices may prove to be an obstacle for the effective implementation of the student-centred reforms. Thus, the main purpose of this chapter is to explore the likelihood of how conceptions of teaching could encourage an environment that supports student learning and contribute to the effectiveness of convergence of the European Higher Education.

Teaching Evolution through the Hardy-Weinberg Principle

Teaching population genetics provides a bridge between genetics and evolution by using examples of the mechanisms that underlie changes in allele frequencies over time. Existing methods of teaching these concepts often rely on computer simulations or hand calculations, which distract students from the material and are problematic for those with high math anxiety. We outline an exercise that engages students and provides real-time feedback through the use of classroom response devices. This exercise has been used with success and employs a conceptual-change approach to teach the fundamental, yet often misunderstood, concept of biological evolution.