Problem 3
Mayer
The intuitive physics problem
- Bird-eye view of a curved metal tube, a ball is shot through the tube, draw the path of the
ball after it comes out of the tube, most people draw a curved path but it’s incorrect
- People approach learning and thinking in science with certain preexisting conceptions
- Instruction is not providing knowledge about an entirely new topic but rather beginning
with the learner’s existing intuitive science and trying to change or build upon those
conceptions
Conceptual change theory
- Traditional view: learning is adding more facts to memory
- Conceptual change view: learning occurs when one’s mental model (or naïve conception) is
replaced by a new one
- Involves 3 steps:
o Recognizing an anomaly: seeing that your current mental model is inadequate,
realizing you have misconceptions that should be replaced
o Constructing a new model: finding a better mental model to explain facts, changing
to another model
o Using a new model: using your new model when you confront a problem, mentally
operating your new model
- A mental model: cognitive representation of the essential parts of a system, cause-effect
relations between a change in the state of one part
1) Conceptual change depends on the learner’s conscious control of the learning process
o Intentional conceptual change: goal-directed and conscious regulation of cognitive,
metacognitive, and motivational processes to bring change in knowledge
(motivation and metacognition!)
2) Despite the classic view of conceptual change, sometimes it involves repairing the incorrect
model rather than replacing it
3) Early views emphasize confronting students with experiences that conflict with their
expectations but it is possible to induce change simply by telling students about conflicting
situations
- Traditional view sees the goal of science as explaining, but this view sees it as explaining.
- The first step in meaningful science learning is to detect your current misconceptions.
Confronting misconceptions
- The predict-observe-explain method:
o Better method over demonstration
o Students first predict what will happen, observe what happens and explain why
their observations conflict with their predictions
o The goal is confronting the learner with anomalous information that will create
cognitive conflict
o Shouldn’t assume the student’s mind is blank
- Showing the students an event that conflict with their conceptions doesn’t mean they’ll
see it, this can be blocked by them misinterpreting the experience
- Student’s cultural beliefs and social context can also play a role in conceptual change.
, Initiating conceptual change
- 2 different views of learning: assimilation vs accommodation
- Traditional view: students learn by assimilation
o They fit new information into their existing knowledge
o This view is incomplete, can’t account for radical conceptual change
- Conceptual-change theory: learning involves accommodation
o Students replace or reorganize central concepts because current concepts are
inadequate
- 3 characteristics of a new conception in accommodative learning:
o Intelligible: grasp how the new conception works
o Plausible: see how the new conception is consistent with other knowledge and
explains data
o Fruitful: extend the conception to new areas
- Analogical model: graphic examples help students learn better than just reading a passage
o Generates more creative solutions and promotes conceptual change
Promoting conceptual change
- Discussion of anomalous information: discussion about experiments with concrete models,
progression of increasingly sophisticated microworlds
o ThinkerTools: Develop progressive mental models of how the physical world works,
4 phases:
- Motivation: make predictions
- Model evolution: solve problems on computer screen
- Formalization: determine the validity of each set of laws
- Transfer: explain how the rule relates to a real-world problem
- Students learn more deeply
Mayer
The intuitive physics problem
- Bird-eye view of a curved metal tube, a ball is shot through the tube, draw the path of the
ball after it comes out of the tube, most people draw a curved path but it’s incorrect
- People approach learning and thinking in science with certain preexisting conceptions
- Instruction is not providing knowledge about an entirely new topic but rather beginning
with the learner’s existing intuitive science and trying to change or build upon those
conceptions
Conceptual change theory
- Traditional view: learning is adding more facts to memory
- Conceptual change view: learning occurs when one’s mental model (or naïve conception) is
replaced by a new one
- Involves 3 steps:
o Recognizing an anomaly: seeing that your current mental model is inadequate,
realizing you have misconceptions that should be replaced
o Constructing a new model: finding a better mental model to explain facts, changing
to another model
o Using a new model: using your new model when you confront a problem, mentally
operating your new model
- A mental model: cognitive representation of the essential parts of a system, cause-effect
relations between a change in the state of one part
1) Conceptual change depends on the learner’s conscious control of the learning process
o Intentional conceptual change: goal-directed and conscious regulation of cognitive,
metacognitive, and motivational processes to bring change in knowledge
(motivation and metacognition!)
2) Despite the classic view of conceptual change, sometimes it involves repairing the incorrect
model rather than replacing it
3) Early views emphasize confronting students with experiences that conflict with their
expectations but it is possible to induce change simply by telling students about conflicting
situations
- Traditional view sees the goal of science as explaining, but this view sees it as explaining.
- The first step in meaningful science learning is to detect your current misconceptions.
Confronting misconceptions
- The predict-observe-explain method:
o Better method over demonstration
o Students first predict what will happen, observe what happens and explain why
their observations conflict with their predictions
o The goal is confronting the learner with anomalous information that will create
cognitive conflict
o Shouldn’t assume the student’s mind is blank
- Showing the students an event that conflict with their conceptions doesn’t mean they’ll
see it, this can be blocked by them misinterpreting the experience
- Student’s cultural beliefs and social context can also play a role in conceptual change.
, Initiating conceptual change
- 2 different views of learning: assimilation vs accommodation
- Traditional view: students learn by assimilation
o They fit new information into their existing knowledge
o This view is incomplete, can’t account for radical conceptual change
- Conceptual-change theory: learning involves accommodation
o Students replace or reorganize central concepts because current concepts are
inadequate
- 3 characteristics of a new conception in accommodative learning:
o Intelligible: grasp how the new conception works
o Plausible: see how the new conception is consistent with other knowledge and
explains data
o Fruitful: extend the conception to new areas
- Analogical model: graphic examples help students learn better than just reading a passage
o Generates more creative solutions and promotes conceptual change
Promoting conceptual change
- Discussion of anomalous information: discussion about experiments with concrete models,
progression of increasingly sophisticated microworlds
o ThinkerTools: Develop progressive mental models of how the physical world works,
4 phases:
- Motivation: make predictions
- Model evolution: solve problems on computer screen
- Formalization: determine the validity of each set of laws
- Transfer: explain how the rule relates to a real-world problem
- Students learn more deeply
