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Improving education through a multi-level analysis of conceptual change research and developmental education research
Many academic concepts require students to change their prior knowledge—or undergo ‘conceptual changes’—to understand and master them, in sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and language learning. Conceptual change (CC) research is therefore crucial for education. However, research on educational designs that foster CCs remains underdeveloped, and the field is divided among competing learning theories with corresponding educational recommendations, including A. diSessa’s knowledge-in-pieces theory, M. Chi’s ontological shift theory, and S. Vosniadou’s framework theory.
I present a fourth promising alternative: developmental education, or ‘(Neo-) Vygotskian’ educational approaches. Moreover, I delineate key complementarities between developmental education and CC research, aiming to improve both the theories and educational practices for fostering CCs and, more broadly, academic knowledge learning.
These complementarities were identified through a comparative multi-level analysis, which delineates the main epistemological assumptions underlying learning theories, how these assumptions inform distinct educational principles, and how these principles, in turn, inform specific educational methods and practices.
Date:
22 May 2025, 15:00
Venue:
15 Norham Gardens, 15 Norham Gardens OX2 6PY
Venue Details:
Seminar Room E
Speaker:
Dr Thomas Gennen (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Organising department:
Department of Education
Organiser:
Dr Ian Thompson (Department of Education, University of Oxford)
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Public
Editors:
Hannah Freeman,
Heather Sherkunov,
Kristina Khoo
