The Fallacy of Decontextualization

Oers, Bert van

doi:10.1207/s15327884mca0502_7

Cited by 129 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Nevertheless, with greater confidence, learners can consolidate their use of scientific expressions and endeavour to use them in increasingly less familiar contexts. van Oers (1998) has argued that we do not simply learn to 'dis-embed' ideas, we actually learn to recontextualize our past notions and this is a progressive, iterative process. Whether so or not, it is important to acknowledge that a young person may use both forms of expression for an idea, at different times and in different contexts; the meaning the individual is actually working with might be the same.…”

Section: The Developmental Perspective: Language Switchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Switching Between Everyday and Scientific Language

Blown

Bryce

2016

Res Sci Educ

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The research reported here investigated the everyday and scientific repertoires of children involved in semi-structured, Piagetian interviews carried out to check their understanding of dynamic astronomical concepts like daytime and night-time. It focused on the switching taking place between embedded and disembedded thinking; on the imagery which subjects referred to in their verbal dialogue and their descriptions of drawings and play-dough models of the Earth, Sun and Moon; and it examined the prevalence and character of animism and figurative speech in children's thinking. Five hundred and thirty-nine children (aged 3-18) from Wairarapa in New Zealand (171 boys and 185 girls) and Changchun in China (99 boys and 84 girls) took part in the study. Modified ordinal scales for the relevant concept categories were used to classify children's responses and data from each age group (with numbers balanced as closely as practicable by culture and gender) analysed with KolmogorovSmirnov two-sample tests (at an alpha level of 0.05). Although, in general, there was consistency of dynamic concepts within and across media and their associated modalities in keeping with the theory of conceptual coherence (see Blown and Bryce 2010; Bryce and Blown 2016), there were several cases of inter-modal and intra-modal switching in both cultures. Qualitative data from the interview protocols revealed how children switch between everyday and scientific language (in both directions) and use imagery in response to questioning. The research indicates that children's grasp of scientific ideas in this field may ordinarily be under-estimated if one only goes by formal scientific expression and vocabulary.Keywords Everyday and scientific language . Embedded and disembedded thinking . Switching . Animism and figurative speech . Astronomy . Daytime and night-time Much of the published research into the acquisition of scientific ideas by young people has concentrated upon their growing accumulation of correct or appropriately expressed terms for important concepts. This paper explores the boundaries between such language and the communications which precede and pre-determine its character. The empirical research which Res Sci Educ (2017) 47:621-653

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Section: The Developmental Perspective: Language Switchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Switching Between Everyday and Scientific Language

Blown

Bryce

2016

Res Sci Educ

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“…Thus, the question of how the concepts are contextualised in subject teaching must be asked. van Oers (1998) argued that the view of knowledge in education as decontextualised and generalised is in fact a question of continuous recontextualisations. This is in line with Bosch and Gascón (2006) who highlighted the notion of didactical transpositions, i.e.…”

Section: Concepts As Contextually Understoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of the Context-Dependence of the Gene Concept in Research Articles

Flodin

2017

Sci & Educ

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The purpose of this study is to interpret and qualitatively characterise the content in some research articles and evaluate cases of possible difference in meanings of the gene concept used. Using a reformulation of Hirst's criteria of forms of knowledge, articles from five different subdisciplines in biology (transmission genetic, molecular biology, genomics, developmental biology and population genetics) were characterised according to knowledge project, methods used and conceptual contexts. Depending on knowledge project, the gene may be used as a location of recombination, a target of regulatory proteins, a carrier of regulatory sequences, a cause in organ formation or a basis for a genetic map. Methods used range from catching wild birds and dissecting beetle larvae to growing yeast cells in 94 small wells as well as mapping of recombinants, doing statistical calculations, immunoblotting analysis of protein levels, analysis of gene expression with PCR, immunostaining of embryos and automated constructions of multi-locus linkage maps. The succeeding conceptual contexts focused around concepts as meiosis and chromosome, DNA and regulation, cell fitness and production, development and organ formation, conservation and evolution. These contextual differences lead to certain content leaps in relation to different conceptual schemes. The analysis of the various uses of the gene concept shows how differences in methodologies and questions entail a concept that escapes single definitions and Bdrift around^in meanings. These findings make it important to ask how science might use concepts as tools of specific inquiries and to discuss possible consequences for biology education.

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“…In the sections below some of these contributions are briefly examined, including those of Barnett (2006), Young (2006), Gamble (2004Gamble ( , 2006, Breier (2004), Guile (2011), van Oers (1998 and Evans et al (2010). Some of these authors explicitly use Bernstein's notion of recontextualisation, whereas others have reinterpreted the concept and broadened its use while acknowledging Bernstein.…”

Section: Bernstein's Use Of Recontextualisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In many cases, new particulars must be identified and tested for their capacity to reinforce the concept for the new context. The different ways in which this works are well explicated by van Oers's (1998) distinction between 'horizontal' and 'vertical' recontextualisation, and the suggestion that these two forms of recontextualisation may need to interrelate to embed a concept successfully for a new context (Smeby and Vagan 2008). This interpretation can be seen as particularly relevant for learner recontextualisation, but arguably has strong relevance across processes of knowledge validation, curriculum development and pedagogy.…”

Section: The Characteristics Of Recontextualisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evans et al (2010, 246) broaden the scope further, describing recontextualisation as incorporating contexts such as 'schools of thought, the traditions and norms of practice, the life experiences in which knowledge of different kinds is generated', extending the focus to workplace practices and learners. Evans et al (2010, 246) also suggest that 'concepts are an integral part of practice', providing a link to the 'progessive continuous recontextualisation' that van Oers (1998) outlines.. This suggests that recontextualisation has a degree of flexibility as a notion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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