Abstract
Several learning studies in the field of science education describe the final state of students’ concepts of, e.g., air pressure or chemical bonding as a multi-layered cognitive conceptual structure (manifold conceptions, multiple frameworks). The hypothesis of a multi-layered cognitive structure assumes that students — e.g., when asked to explain a specific problem — are able to activate significantly differing and competing understandings of a single concept and that therefore no essential shift of context is necessary. Concerning atomic physics, our hypothesis of cognitive layers is based on an explorative case study (Petri & Niedderer, 1998). In a new analysis of our interview data, we investigated the cognitive structure of six students with respect to their individual layers at the end of the course (Petri & Niedderer, 2001). Our findings, which confirm the important role of cognitive layers during conceptual change, are summarized and discussed in this paper.
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Petri, J., Niedderer, H. (2003). Atomic Physics in Upper Secondary School: Layers of Conceptions in Individual Cognitive Structure. In: Psillos, D., Kariotoglou, P., Tselfes, V., Hatzikraniotis, E., Fassoulopoulos, G., Kallery, M. (eds) Science Education Research in the Knowledge-Based Society. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0165-5_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0165-5_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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