On warm conceptual change: The interplay of text, epistemological beliefs, and topic interest.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to go further than considering only cognitive factors to extend the understanding of the complex, dynamic underlying knowledge revision processes. Fifth graders were assigned to 2 reading conditions. Participants in 1 condition read a refutational text about light, whereas participants in the other read a traditional text. Within each reading condition, students had more or less advanced beliefs about scientific knowledge (complex and evolving vs. simple and certain), as well as high or low topic interest. Overall findings from pretest to immediate and delayed posttests showed that knowledge revision was affected by several interactions among the variables examined. Students who attained the highest scores at both the immediate and delayed posttests were those who had read the refutational text and had high topic interest, as well as more advanced beliefs about scientific knowledge. In particular, the refutational text was more powerful in prompting a restructuring of alternative conceptions about 2 of the 3 light phenomena examined. In addition, students preferred the innovative text to the traditional textbook text

Developmental changes in the comparison of decimal fractions

“…While several authors (Dole & Sinatra, 1998;Limón & Mason, 2002;Mason, Gava, & Boldrin, 2008;Pintrich, Marx, & Boyle, 1993;Sinatra & Pintrich, 2003) have shown that the affective and motivational characteristics of the learner, as well as various social, instructional and contextual factors, play a role in the adoption of conceptual change, our research was only focused on cognitive aspects of conceptual change (see Vosniadou, 2007 for a discussion).…”

Source credibility and the processing of refutation texts

“…In this context, the use of texts has been identified as a powerful tool in the knowledge revision process (Sinatra & Broughton, 2011). One text type that has been shown to be successful at helping individuals revise misconceived knowledge is the refutation text (Alvermann & Hague, 1989;Alvermann & Hynd, 1989;Braasch, Goldman, & Wiley, 2013;Frède, 2008;Guzzetti, Snyder, Glass, & Gamas, 1993;Hynd, Alvermann, & Qian, 1997;Mason & Gava, 2007;Mason, Gava, & Boldrin, 2008;Tippett, 2010). Refutation texts explicitly acknowledge commonly held incorrect conceptions or beliefs about a topic, directly refute them, and provide a more satisfactory explanation (Hynd, 2001).…”

Argumentation as a Strategy for Increasing Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of Climate Change, a Key Global Socioscientific Issue

“…Refutational lessons have been shown to nurture long-term conceptual change across a wide range of grade levels (Cook, Bedford, & Mandia, 2014). Research has demonstrated that refutational texts can: 1) increase argumentative skills and raise awareness of the relevance of evidence to argument (Kuhn & Crowell, 2011); 2) foster critical thinking and encourage students to assess evidence and to draw valid conclusions (Berland &Reiser, 2011: Kuhn andCrowell, 2011); 3) provoke more interest compared to traditional textbooks (Manson, Gava, & Boldrin, 2008); and 4) resolve to some degree the issue that knowledge is often imparted as a set of unequivocal facts with a lack of argument in the classroom (Osborne, 2010).…”