What is conceptual change?
List one obstacle to conceptual change a teacher might face.
List one way a teacher can promote conceptual change.
QTC 7.2 Higher-Level Thinking (Analysis - Compare, Differentiate, Examine, Separate)
Examine the relationships between concepts, schemas, scripts, theories, and world views. (What they are and how they differ.)
Give an example of how a student would organize knowledge for each method.
7.1
ReplyDeleteConceptual change is a method of changing an existing theory or belief system so that new information can be better understood and explained. One obstacle to conceptual change that a teacher might face is when the students do not notice a difference between the new information that is being taught and their existing knowledge or beliefs. This may apply to information that they have memorized, and may not be fully aware of. As they learn new information, they may not realize that it conflicts with the information they already hold. One way that a teacher can promote conceptual change is to show students the contradiction between these two different forms of information by creating disequilibrium. This can be done by asking questions that lead students to find the weaknesses in their ideas, or to have students conduct experiments using both sets of information.
This question falls under the lower order thinking levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (Knowledge) in that requests the definition of a term that is in the chapter, as well as to list one of many possible answers to the questions about the term. The answer to the question is to define, and then list ways of dealing with the concept defined.
I would like to preface the answer to this question by saying that this is all very confusing, so I hope that I am getting it right.
ReplyDeleteA concept is how we mentally group things that are similar in any specific way. This means that an object, idea, etc. has some type of relation and therefore, we are able to generalize when thinking about them. For example, we generally all think of food as something that we eat. A student may organize concepts very generally, such as the idea that addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication are all math concepts.
A schema is more personalized, and consists of a group of facts about something that an individual has knowledge of. A schema can be thought of as all of the information that you can recall about a certain topic. For example, if you are speaking with another person about cats, in your mind you tend to quickly run through everything that you know, or your schema, about cats. this is different from a concept because it is more specific and doesn't necessarily involve any type of relationship among the facts, other than that they are all connected somehow to the topic of the schema. A student may organize their knowledge for a schema by considering all of the different information that they know about a particular topic, say the Civil War, and categorizing it as such for easier recollection.
A script is a type of schema that is related to a sequence of events about a particular activity. When we experience an event, our mind categorizes this event by placing it in a sequential order. For example, when asked about our day, we typically repeat the events as they happened, adding or removing details as needed. Like a schema, this can vary widely with each individual and their interpretation. A student may use scripts when studying history in order to memorize a sequence of events, with the ordered nature of the information assisting them in their ability to recall the information more easily.
ReplyDeleteTheories are typically on a much larger scale than the aforementioned ways of organizing knowledge and tend to include different concepts and the relationships between them. We establish our theories regarding the world around us as a means of categorizing and making sense of the world around us, using the schemas that we already hold to learn more about a specific concept. For example, if a person already understands that dinosaurs are extinct, they can use this information to build possible ideas for why they are extinct. Therefore, we use the knowledge we already hold on a topic to guide our future learning and questioning. A student may use theories to examine many different aspects of education, especially those related to science or math. If a student in a chemistry class has a general understanding of the molecular properties of a substance, they might construct theories about what effects another substance may have when they are mixed.
World views pertain to when a person holds a general set of beliefs and assumptions about reality which may influence their understanding of a wide variety of phenomena. A world view can be the belief in either evolution or divine creation, for example. The most significant aspect of world views is that they may be culturally influenced. What I believe about a specific subject may not be what a person halfway across the world believes, or what someone from a different cultural background believes. A student's world view may play into their learning process in that there is the possibility of contradiction between what they learn in school and what information they bring with them. A way to deal with this scenario would be that the student differentiates between these two world views in order to organize what information that they deem correct, what is questionable in their opinions, and what can be tested or researched to lead to a more definitive truth.
This question is connected to the higher level of learning contained in Bloom's Taxonomy in that Morgan asks us to examine the relationships between these different methods of organization. Not only does she ask for a definition, but also for us to explore what makes this methods similar or different, which requires us to think more in depth and make comparisons.
Sorry...had to break that into three comments in order to post.