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Can we Speak of Alternative Frameworks and Conceptual Change in Mechanics?

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Abstract

This paper discusses the various conflicting trends in mechanics education that have appeared over the past two decades, and proposes the theory of schemata as a means to resolve the conflict that exists within the literature. The conflict has two causes: the prevailing relativism that exists within science education, and the mistaken view that student alternative ideas are concepts that are well defined. We argue that student alternative ideas can be best understood in terms of schema theory, and that schema theory can offer support to the Vygotskian idea of the teacher facilitating the construction of the Newtonian system within the students zone of proximal development. Within the context of schema theory we propose the category of idealised abstraction that has as its starting point the logical structure of Newtonian mechanics rather than the cognitive state of uninstructed students.

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  1. The Centre for Teaching Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, U.K

    Stuart Rowlands, Ted Graham & John Berry

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Rowlands, S., Graham, T. & Berry, J. Can we Speak of Alternative Frameworks and Conceptual Change in Mechanics?. Science & Education 8, 241–271 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008631623632

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