The conditions of conceptual change in the classroom

Abstract

The conceptual change model has two major components: the conditions that need to be satisfied for a person to experience conceptual change and the person's conceptual ecology that provides the context in which the conceptual change occurs. A literature review shows that the conditions have been used to analyse interview data and to plan instruction but not to interpret interactions in the classroom. An analysts of the ways in which students can and do produce evidence of meeting conditions shows that this only happens when they are able to monitor and comment on the scientific content of their conceptions. Implications that this conclusion has for classroom teaching are considered.