On Cognitive Constraints and Learning Progressions: The case of “structure of matter”
TL;DR: This article identified basic implicit assumptions that seem to constrain students' ideas and reasoning on the particulate nature of matter at various learning stages and suggested common paths in the transition from naive through novice to expert along relevant dimensions related to the structure and properties of chemical substances.
Abstract: Based on the analysis of available research on students’ alternative conceptions about the particulate nature of matter, we identified basic implicit assumptions that seem to constrain students’ ideas and reasoning on this topic at various learning stages. Although many of these assumptions are interrelated, some of them seem to change or lose/gain strength independently from one another. Overlapping or competing presuppositions about the structure, properties, and dynamics of matter may be able to coexist at any given level, particularly at intermediate stages of expertise. Our results allowed us to suggest common paths in the transition from naive through novice to expert along relevant dimensions related to the structure and properties of chemical substances. The identification of these cognitive constraints provides a useful framework that educators can use to better understand and even predict many of their students’ learning difficulties. It can also assist in the design and organisation of learning experiences and assessment tools that recognise and take advantage of the most likely trajectories towards expertise (learning progressions) followed by many students.
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TL;DR: In this article, an analytical review of the design, development and reporting of learning progressions and teaching sequences is presented, focusing on the conceptual domain, disciplinary practices, assessment/measurement and theoretical/guiding conceptions.
Abstract: Our paper is an analytical review of the design, development and reporting of learning progressions and teaching sequences. Research questions are: (1) what criteria are being used to propose a ‘hypothetical learning progression/trajectory’ and (2) what measurements/evidence are being used to empirically define and refine a ‘hypothetical learning progression/trajectory’? Publications from five topic areas are examined: teaching sequences, teaching experiments, didaktiks, learning trajectories in mathematics education and learning progressions in science education. The reviewed publications are drawn from journal special issues, conference reports and monographs. The review is coordinated around four frameworks of Learning Progressions (LP): conceptual domain, disciplinary practices, assessment/measurement and theoretical/guiding conceptions. Our findings and analyses show there is a distinction between the preferred learning pathways that focus on ‘Evolutionary LP’ models and the less preferred but potent...
304 citations
Cites background from "On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..."
...Talanquer (2009), in a thorough review of studies on students’ reasoning about ‘structure of matter’, develops a description focusing on cognitive constraints....
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TL;DR: The authors define chemical thinking as the development and application of chemical knowledge and practices with the main intent of analyzing, synthesizing, and transforming matter for practical purposes, and present a blueprint of a theoretically sound and evidence-based foundation for an educational framework centered on the idea of chemical thinking.
Abstract: Dominant educational approaches in chemistry focus on the learning of somewhat isolated concepts and ideas about chemical substances and reactions. Reform efforts often seek to engage students in the generation of knowledge through the investigation of chemical phenomena, with emphasis on the development and application of models to build causal explanations and predict outcomes. However, chemistry has been characterized as a technoscience that blends scientific pursuit and technological goals. Besides searching for explanations, our discipline also involves the design of substances and processes to address relevant problems, as well as the evaluation of social, economic, and environmental benefits, costs, and risks associated with chemical knowledge and products. In order to develop authentic curricula, instruction, and assessments that are better aligned with the core goals and practices of chemistry, we need to understand how students' chemical thinking progresses over time. We define chemical thinking as the development and application of chemical knowledge and practices with the main intent of analyzing, synthesizing, and transforming matter for practical purposes. In this paper we present a blueprint of a theoretically sound and evidence-based foundation for an educational framework centered on the idea of chemical thinking. Our investigations are focused on the development of a learning progression that describes likely pathways in the evolution of students' chemical thinking with training in the discipline from grade 8 (age 13–14) through 16 (undergraduate completion).
217 citations
Cites background from "On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..."
...Relevant research suggests that novice learners’ ideas and decisions about identity and category membership are constrained by the surface features and appearances of the systems of interest (Vosniadou and Ortony, 1989; Talanquer, 2009)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a model for curriculum development based on five important questions: (i) What should students know? (ii) In what order should they learn it? (iii) What do students bring with them to the course? (iv) What materials are best suited for different purposes? and (v) How can student understanding be assessed?
Abstract: The history of general chemistry is one of almost constant calls for reform, yet over the past 60 years little of substance has changed. Those reforms that have been implemented are almost entirely concerned with how the course is taught, rather than what is to be learned. Here we briefly discuss the history of the general chemistry curriculum and consider why meaningful change has been difficult. In this light we present a rationale for why curriculum reform is necessary, and how it can be accomplished, based on our current understanding of teaching and learning at the college level. We present a model for curriculum development based on five important questions: (i) What should students know? (ii) In what order should they learn it? (iii) What do students bring with them to the course? (iv) What materials are best suited for different purposes? and (v) How can student understanding be assessed? We use our new general chemistry course CLUE: Chemistry, Life, the Universe, and Everything as an example of m...
151 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a learning progression framework to analyze the structure of astronomy education, using an instructional intervention with elementary students in the planetarium to test their initial construction of the learning trajectories.
Abstract: Prior research has demonstrated that neither children nor adults hold a scientific understanding of the big ideas of astronomy, as described in standards documents for science education (National Research Council (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press). This manuscript focuses on ideas in astronomy that are at the foundation of elementary students' understanding of the discipline: the apparent motion of the sun, moon, and stars as seen from an earth-based perspective. Lack of understanding of these concepts may hinder students' progress towards more advanced understanding in the domain. We have analyzed the logic of the domain and synthesized prior research assessing children's knowledge to develop a set of learning trajectories that describe how students' initial ideas about apparent celestial motion as they enter school can be built upon, through successively more sophisticated levels of understanding, to reach a level that aligns with the scientific view. Analysis of an instructional intervention with elementary students in the planetarium was used to test our initial construction of the learning trajectories. This manuscript presents a first look at the use of a learning progression framework in analyzing the structure of astronomy education. We discuss how this work may eventually lead towards the development and empirical testing of a full learning progression on the big idea: how children learn to describe and explain apparent patterns of celestial motion. 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 768-787, 2010
132 citations
Cites background from "On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..."
...…have focused on concepts that are interdisciplinary and foundational for a broad range of topics: atomicmolecular theory (Smith et al., 2006; Talanquer, 2009), evolution (Catley, Lehrer, & Reiser, 2005), environmental literacy (Anderson, 2008; Mohan, Chen, & Anderson, 2009), biodiversity…...
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...Prior work on the development of learning progressions have focused on concepts that are interdisciplinary and foundational for a broad range of topics: atomicmolecular theory (Smith et al., 2006; Talanquer, 2009), evolution (Catley, Lehrer, & Reiser, 2005), environmental literacy (Anderson, 2008; Mohan, Chen, & Anderson, 2009), biodiversity (Songer, Kelcey, & Gotwals, 2009), and genetics (Duncan, Rogat, & Yarden, 2009)....
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TL;DR: This paper describes an alternative way of conceptualizing the introductory chemistry curriculum for science and engineering majors by shifting the focus from learning chemistry as a body of knowledge to understanding Chemistry as a way of thinking.
Abstract: Despite multiple calls for reform, the curriculum for first-year college chemistry at many universities across the world is still mostly fact-based and encyclopedic, built upon a collection of isolated topics, oriented too much towards the perceived needs of chemistry majors, focused too much on abstract concepts and algorithmic problem solving, and detached from the practices, ways of thinking, and applications of both chemistry research and chemistry education research in the 21st century. This paper describes an alternative way of conceptualizing the introductory chemistry curriculum for science and engineering majors by shifting the focus from learning chemistry as a body of knowledge to understanding chemistry as a way of thinking. Starting in 2007, we have worked on the development and implementation of a new curriculum intended to: promote deeper conceptual understanding of a minimum core of fundamental ideas instead of superficial coverage of multiple topics; connect core ideas between the course units by following well-defined learning progressions; introduce students to modern ways of thinking and problem-solving in chemistry; and involve students in realistic decision-making and problem-solving activities.
126 citations
Cites background from "On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..."
...Research in science and chemical education has shown that, in general, students have serious difficulties understanding and applying the different assumptions of the atomic and molecular theories of matter (Nakhleh, 1992; Barker, 2000; Taber, 2002; Talanquer, 2006, 2009)....
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References
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TL;DR: The distinction between rule-based and associative systems of reasoning has been discussed extensively in cognitive psychology as discussed by the authors, where the distinction is based on the properties that are normally assigned to rules.
Abstract: Distinctions have been proposed between systems of reasoning for centuries. This article distills properties shared by many of these distinctions and characterizes the resulting systems in light of recent findings and theoretical developments. One system is associative because its computations reflect similarity structure and relations of temporal contiguity. The other is "rule based" because it operates on symbolic structures that have logical content and variables and because its computations have the properties that are normally assigned to rules. The systems serve complementary functions and can simultaneously generate different solutions to a reasoning problem. The rule-based system can suppress the associative system but not completely inhibit it. The article reviews evidence in favor of the distinction and its characterization. One of the oldest conundrums in psychology is whether people are best conceived as parallel processors of information who operate along diffuse associative links or as analysts who operate by deliberate and sequential manipulation of internal representations. Are inferences drawn through a network of learned associative pathways or through application of a kind of"psychologic" that manipulates symbolic tokens in a rule-governed way? The debate has raged (again) in cognitive psychology for almost a decade now. It has pitted those who prefer models of mental phenomena to be built out of networks of associative devices that pass activation around in parallel and distributed form (the way brains probably function) against those who prefer models built out of formal languages in which symbols are composed into sentences that are processed sequentially (the way computers function). An obvious solution to the conundrum is to conceive of the
3,488 citations
"On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..." refers background in this paper
...The goal is not necessarily to achieve conceptual coherence, but rather local explanatory coherence during a specific task in a determined context (Sloman, 1996)....
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Book•
01 Jan 1985
TL;DR: Conceptual Change in Childhood: A case study of children's acquisition of biological knowledge between ages 4-10 is presented in this article, which analyzes the ways that knowledge is restructured during this development.
Abstract: Are children fundamentally different kinds of thinkers than adults? Or are the cognitive differences between young children and adults merely a matter of accumulation of knowledge? In this book, Susan Carey develops an alternative to these two ways of thinking about childhood cognition, putting forth the idea of conceptual change and its relation to the development of knowledge systems.Conceptual Change in Childhood is a case study of children's acquisition of biological knowledge between ages 4-10. Drawing on evidence from a variety of sources, Carey analyzes the ways that knowledge is restructured during this development, comparing them to the ways that knowledge is restructured by an adult learner, and to the ways that conceptual frameworks have shifted in the history of science. Susan Carey is Professor of Psychology at MIT.
3,158 citations
"On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..." refers background in this paper
...From the standpoint of researchers within the “explanatory frameworks” tradition, conceptual change involves the revision, modification, or replacement of an individual’s naïve theories and mental models (Carey, 1985; Vosniadou, 1994, 2007)....
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01 Nov 1989
TL;DR: This book discusses Similarity and analogical reasoning as a mechanism in knowledge acquisition: a developmental perspective Stella Vosniadou and Andrew Ortony, and the mechanisms of analogical learning in development, learning and instruction.
Abstract: Preface Similarity and analogical reasoning: a synthesis Stella Vosniadou and Andrew Ortony Part I. Similarity and the Structure of Concepts: 1. Similarity, typicality, and categorization Lance J. Rips 2. Similarity and decision making Edward E. Smith and Daniel N. Osherson 3. Intraconcept similarity and its implications for interconcept similarity Lawrence W. Barsalou 4. Two-tiered concept meaning, inferential matching, and conceptual cohesiveness Ryszard S. Michalski 5. From global similarities to kinds of similarities: the construction of dimensions in development Linda B. Smith 6. Comments on Part I. Psychological essentialism Douglas Medin and Andrew Ortony Part II. Analogical Reasoning: 7. The mechanisms of analogical learning Dedre Genter 8. A computational model of analogical problem solving Keith J. Holyoak and Paul R. Thagard 9. Use of analogy in production system architecture John R. Anderson and Ross Thompson 10. Toward a microstructural account of human reasoning David E. Rumelhart 11. Analogy and the exercise of creativity Philip N. Johnson-Laird 12. Comments on Part II. Levels of description in information-processing theories of analogy Stephen E. Palmer 13. Comments on Part II. The role of explanation in analogy or, the curse of an alluring name Gerald Dejong Part III. Similarity and Analogy in Development, Learning and Instruction: 14. Analogical learning and transfer: what develops? Ann L. Brown 15. Analogical reasoning as a mechanism in knowledge acquisition: a developmental perspective Stella Vosniadou 16. Remindings in learning and instruction Brian H. Ross 17. New approaches to instruction: because wisdom can't be told John D. Bransford, Jeffery J. Franks, Nancy J. Vye and Robert Sherwood 18. Multiple analogies for complex concepts: antidotes for analogy-induced misconception in advanced knowledge acquisition Rand J. Spiro, Paul J. Feltovich, Richard L. Coulson and Daniel K. Anderson 19. Comments on Part III. The activation and acquisition of knowledge William F. Brewer Afterword Allan Collins and Mark Burstein Name index Subject index.
1,783 citations
"On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..." refers background in this paper
...This domain-general “surface similarity” constraint on the classification and analogical reasoning of children and novice learners has been described and analysed by a variety of authors (Vosniadou & Ortony, 1989)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, an Epistemology of Physics is proposed for cognition and instruction in physics, with a focus on the physics of the human brain and its relationships with knowledge.
Abstract: (1993). Toward an Epistemology of Physics. Cognition and Instruction: Vol. 10, No. 2-3, pp. 105-225.
1,768 citations
"On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..." refers background in this paper
...…to tacit or implicit presuppositions (Vosniadou, 1994), core hypothesis (Chi, 2008), background assumptions (Vosniadou, 2007), phenomenological primitives (diSessa, 1993, 2006), core intuitions (Brown, 1993), or conceptual resources (Redish, 2004) that guide or support thinking in a domain....
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...…that our intuitive knowledge about the world is more fragmented, comprising a large, diverse, and moderately organised collection of phenomenological ideas, commonly referred to as p-prims (diSessa, 1993); examples of p-prims include notions such as “the closer the source, the stronger its effect”....
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...Other authors support the view that our intuitive knowledge about the world is more fragmented, comprising a large, diverse, and moderately organised collection of phenomenological ideas, commonly referred to as p‐prims (diSessa, 1993 ); examples of p‐prims include notions such as “the closer the source, the stronger its effect”....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a theoretical framework is proposed to explain the nature of conceptual change that takes place in the learning of physical science, and it is argued that a naive framework theory of physics is established early on in infancy and forms the basis of individuals' ontology and epistemology.
1,382 citations
"On Cognitive Constraints and Learni..." refers background in this paper
...…most researchers in the field of concept development and conceptual change refer, in some way or another, to tacit or implicit presuppositions (Vosniadou, 1994), core hypothesis (Chi, 2008), background assumptions (Vosniadou, 2007), phenomenological primitives (diSessa, 1993, 2006), core…...
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...Several authors have argued that such constraints are organised in systems of knowledge (explanatory frameworks) that have some, but not necessarily all, of the characteristics of a theory (Vosniadou, 1994)....
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...From the standpoint of researchers within the “explanatory frameworks” tradition, conceptual change involves the revision, modification, or replacement of an individual’s naïve theories and mental models (Carey, 1985; Vosniadou, 1994, 2007)....
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