Making Sense of ‘Making Sense’ in Science Education: A Microgenetic Multiple Case Study

Abstract

Learning is a complex process that may be represented in a number of different models. Researchers in science education have developed a representation of learning that assumes cognition is composed of multiple conceptual resources that are selectively activated in different contexts. This chapter focuses on one multi-element model of learning, the construct of making sense, that is, the formation or modification of a coherent conceptual structure that can be applied across a range of contexts. Data are presented from a microgenetic case study of the learning of two 16–17-year-old students from a secondary school in England across a number of contexts related to forces and dynamics. The analysis focuses on the manner in which the students developed, or failed to develop, coherent arrangements of their available conceptual resources in different contexts. It is argued that a number of factors prevented the students from making sense of a particular context and that the possession of appropriate conceptual resources was a necessary, but insufficient, requirement for the development of an explanation that matched the accepted scientific argument. The notion of coherence is used to examine the students’ organisations of resources, and it is noted that students’ perception of coherence may differ from those of experienced scientists. The chapter concludes with a call for further research into the factors that drive students’ perceptions of appropriate fit within structures of conceptual resources.