Conceptual change: From preconception to scientific conception

Abstract

In the present study, conditions governing undergraduates' and graduate students' preconceptions were investigated. Additionally, the process of conceptual change, from preconception to scientific conception, was addressed. In Study 1, 67 participants (21 men, 46 women; average age, 23.2 years) were asked to answer questions about mechanics. The results indicated that most of the participants had preconceptions that did not correspond to the relevant scientific concepts. For Study 2, teaching materials were created based on the results of Study 1 and on a model of conceptual change (Hashweh, 1986), and the 52 participants (13 men, 39 women; average age 23.8 years) who had not answered all the questions correctly in Study 1 were asked to read those teaching materials and answer questions. For those questions for which the participants' preconceptions were not very strong, their preconceptions changed to scientific ones as they related their preconception to the proposed new conception and reorganized their view. In those questions where the participants had strong preconceptions, their preconceptions did not change to a scientific one, because they had doubts about the new conception or did not accept it, even though they were aware that their preconception was incorrect. Rather, they merely reinterpreted their preconception and changed it somewhat.