Abstract
Bringing successful teaching approaches for stimulating conceptual change to normal classrooms has been a major challenge not only for teachers but also for researchers. In this study, we focused on the relationship between cognitive conflict and responses to anomalous data when students are confronted with a counterintuitive demonstration in the form of a discrepant event. The participants in this study were 96 secondary school students (9th grade) from S. Korea. We investigated students’ preconceptions of motion by administering a written test. After the exam, we presented a demonstration that may have conflicted with the ideas held by students. We then investigated the relationship between students’ cognitive conflict and responses to anomalous data by using a Cognitive Conflict Level Test (CCLT). Results showed that cognitive conflict initiated the first step in the process of conceptual change. Anxiety was an especially crucial component of cognitive conflict, affecting the relationship between cognitive conflict and students’ responses. In addition, superficial conceptual change was found to be the most common response.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alvermann, D. E., & Hague, S. A. (1989). Comprehension of counterintuitive science text: effects of prior knowledge and text structure. Journal of Education Research, 82, 197–202.
Bodrakova, W. V. (1988). The role of external and cognitive conflict in children’s conservation learning. Unpublished doctorial dissertation, City University of New York.
Carey, S. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Champagne, A. B., Gunstone, R. F., & Kloper, L. E. (1985). Instructional consequences of students’ knowledge about physical phenomena. In L. H. T. West & A. L. Pines (Eds.), Cognitive structure and conceptual change (pp. 61–90). Orlando: Academic.
Chan, C., Burtis, J., & Bereiter, C. (1997). Knowledge building as a mediator of conflict in conceptual change. Cognition and Instruction, 15, 1–40.
Chinn, C. A., & Brewer, W. F. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: a theoretical framework and implications for science instruction. Review of Educational Research, 63, 1–49.
Chinn, C. A., & Brewer, W. F. (1998). An empirical test of a taxonomy of responses to anomalous data in science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35, 623–654.
Cizek, G. J., & Burg, S. S. (2006). Addressing test anxiety in a high-stakes environment: Strategies for classrooms and schools. Callifornia: Corwin Press.
Damon, W., & Killen, M. (1982). Peer interaction and the process of change in children’s moral reasoning. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 28, 347–367.
Dekkers, P. J. J. M., & Thijs, G. D. (1998). Making productive use of students’ initial conceptions in developing the concept of force. Science Education, 82, 31–51.
Dreyfus, A., Jungwirth, E., & Eliovitch, R. (1990). Applying the “cognitive conflict” strategy for conceptual change–some implications, difficulties, and problems. Science Education, 74, 555–569.
Druyan, S. (1997). Effect of the kinesthetic conflict on promoting scientific reasoning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34, 1083–1099.
Elby, A., & Hammer, D. (2001). On the substance of a sophisticated epistemology. Science Education, 85, 554–567.
Elizabeth, L., & Galloway, D. (1996). Conceptual links between cognitive acceleration through science education and motivational style: a critique of Adey and Shyer. International Journal of Science Education, 18, 35–49.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Gagne, E. D., Yekovich, C. W., & Yekovich, F. R. (1993). The cognitive psychology of school learning. New York: HarperCollins.
Gorsky, P., & Finegold, M. (1994). The role of anomaly and of cognitive dissonance in restructuring students’ concepts of force. Instructional Science, 22, 75–90.
Hammer, D. (2000). Student resources for learning introductory physics. American Journal of Physics, suppl. 68, 52–59.
Hashweh, M. Z. (1986). Toward an explanation of conceptual change. European Journal of Science Education, 8, 229–249.
Haws, L., & Kiser, T. (1995). Exploring the Brachistochrone problem. American Mathematical Monthly, 102, 308–336.
Hennessey, M. G. (1999, March). Probing the dimensions of metacognition: Implications for conceptual change teaching-learning. Paper presented at the 1999 NARST Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
Hewson, P. W. (1981). A conceptual approach to learning science. European Journal of Science Education, 3, 383–396.
Hewson, P. W., & Hewson, M. G. A. (1984). The role of conceptual conflict in conceptual change and the design of science instruction. Instructional Science, 13, 1–13.
Hewson, P. W., & Thorley, N. R. (1989). The conditions of conceptual change in the classroom. International Journal of Science Education, 18, 35–49.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1979). Conflict in the classroom: controversy and Learning. Review of Educational Research, 49, 51–70.
Kang, S., Scharmann, L. C., & Noh, T. (2004). Reexaming the role of cognitive conflict in science concept learning. Research in Science Education, 34, 71–96.
Kang, S., Scharmann, L. C., Noh, T., & Koh, H. (2005). The influence of students’ cognitive and motivational variables in respect of cognitive conflict and conceptual change. International Journal of Science Education, 27, 1037–1058.
Kang, H., Scharmann, L. C., Kang, S., & Noh, T. (2010). Cognitive conflict and situational interest as factors influencing conceptual change. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 5, 383–405.
Kwon, J. (1989). A cognitive model of conceptual change in science learning. Physics Teaching (written in Korean), 7, 1–9.
Kwon, J. (1997, May). The necessity of cognitive conflict strategy in science teaching. Paper presented at the International Conference on Science Education: Globalization of Science Education, Seoul, S. Korea.
Langfield-Smith, K. (1994). Cognitive map. In V. S. Ramachandran (Ed.), Human behaviour (pp. 647–653). New York: Academic.
Lee, G., & Kwon, J. (1999). Students’ responses confronted with discrepant situation patterns about inertia concept. Journal of Korean Association for Research in Science Education, 19(4), 516–527.
Lee, G., Kwon, J., Park, S., Kim, J., Kwon, H., & Park, H. (2003). Development of an instrument for measuring cognitive conflict in secondary-level science classes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(6), 585–603.
Lee, G., Shin, J., Park, J., Song, S., Kim, Y., & Bao, L. (2005). An integrated theoretical structure of mental models: Toward understanding how students form their ideas about science. Journal of the Korean Association for Research in Science Education, 25(6), 698–709.
Limón, M. (2001). On the cognitive conflict as an instructional strategy for conceptual change: a critical appraisal. Learning and Instruction, 11, 357–380.
Lin, J. (2007). Responses to anomalous data obtained from repeatable experiments in the laboratory. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44, 506–528.
Mason, L. (2000). Role of anomalous data and epistemological beliefs in middle school students’ theory change about two controversial topics. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 15, 329–346.
Mason, L. (2001). Responses to anomalous data on controversial topics and theory change. Learning and Instruction, 11, 453–483.
Matthew, M. R. (1999). Social constructivism and mathematics education: some comments. Philosophy of Education, 330–341.
McDermott, L. C., Shaffer, P. S., & Somers, M. D. (1994). Research as a guide for teaching introductory mechanics: an illustration in the context of the Atwood’s machine. American Journal of Physics, 62, 46–55.
Mildenhall, P. T., & Williams, F. S. (2001). Instability in students’ use of intuitive and Newtonian models to predict motion: the critical effect of the parameters involved. International Journal of Science Education, 23, 643–660.
Mischel, T. (1971). Piaget: Cognitive conflict and the motivation of thought. In T. Mischel (Ed.), Cognitive development and epistemology (pp. 311–355). New York: Academic.
Misiti, F. L., & Shrigley, R. L. (1994). The role of cognitive dissonance on the science attitudes of middle school students. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 404109).
Mortimer, E. F., & Machado, A. H. (2000). Anomalies and conflicts in classroom discourse. Science Education, 84, 429–444.
Murray, F. B. (1983). Equilibration as cognitive conflict. Developmental Review, 3, 54–61.
Murray, F. B., Ames, G., & Botvin, G. (1977). The acquisition of conservation through cognitive dissonance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 519–527.
Niaz, M. (1995). Cognitive conflict as a teaching strategy in solving chemistry problems: a dialectic-constructivist perspective. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 32, 959–970.
Niaz, M. (2001). Response to contradiction: conflict resolution strategies used by students in solving problems of chemical equilibrium. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 10, 205–211.
Niaz, M. (2006). Facilitating chemistry teachers’ understanding of alternative interpretations of conceptual change. Interchange, 37, 129–150.
Piaget, J. (1963). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International University Press.
Piaget, J. (1985). The equilibration of cognitive structure: The central problem of intellectual development. Chicago: U of Chicago.
Posner, G. J., Strike, K. A., Hewson, P. W., & Gertzog, W. A. (1982). Accommodation of a scientific conception: toward a theory of conceptual change. Science Education, 66, 221–227.
Rosenquist, M. L., & McDermott, L. C. (1987). A conceptual approach to teaching kinematics. American Journal of Physics, 55, 407–415.
Sigel, I. E. (1979). On becoming a thinker: a psychoeducational model. Educational psychologist, 14, 70–78.
Smedslund, J. (1961). The acquisition of conservation of substance and weight in children. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2, 156–160.
Stinner, A. (1994). The story of force: from Aristotle to Einstein. Physics Education, 29, 77–85.
Strauss, S. (1972). Inducing cognitive development and learning: a review of short-term training experiments. Cognition, 1, 329–357.
Thorley, N. R., & Treagust, D. F. (1987). Conflict within dyadic interactions as a stimulant for conceptual change in physics. International Journal of Science Education, 9, 203–216.
Treagust, D. F., & Duit, R. (2008). Conceptial change: a discussion of theoretical, methodological and practical challenges for science education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3, 297–328.
Trowbridge, D. E., & McDermott, L. C. (1981). Investigation of student understanding of the concept of acceleration in one dimension. American Journal of Physics, 49, 242–253.
Trumper, R. (1997). Applying conceptual conflict strategies in the learning of the energy concept. Research in Science and Technological Education, 15, 5–18.
Tsai, C. (2000). Enhancing science instruction: the use of “conflict maps”. International Journal of Science Education, 22, 285–302.
Tyson, L. M., Venville, G. J., Harrison, A. G., & Treagust, D. F. (1997). A multidimensional framework for interpreting conceptual change events in the classroom. Science Education, 81, 387–404.
Venville, G. J., & Treagust, D. F. (1998). Exploring conceptual change in genetics using a multidimensional interpretive framework. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35, 1031–1055.
Vosniadou, S., & Ioannides, C. (1998). From conceptual development to science education: a psychological point of view. International Journal of Science Education, 20, 1213–1230.
Wadsworth, B. J. (1996). Piaget’s theory of cognitive and affective development. New York: Longman.
West, L. H. T., & Pines, A. L. (1985). Cognitive structure and conceptual change. Orlando: Academic.
White, R., & Gunstone, R. (1989). Metalearning and conceptual change. International Journal of Science Education, 11, 577–586.
Yerkes, R. M., & Dodson, J. R. (1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit formation. Journal of Comparative Neurological Psychology, 18, 459–482.
Zimmerman, B. J., & Blom, D. E. (1983). Toward an empirical test of the role of cognitive conflict in learning. Developmental Reviews, 3, 18–38.
Zohar, A., & Aharon-Kravetsky, S. (2005). Exploring the effects of cognitive conflict and direct teaching for students of different academic levels. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42, 829–855.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, G., Byun, T. An Explanation for the Difficulty of Leading Conceptual Change Using a Counterintuitive Demonstration: The Relationship Between Cognitive Conflict and Responses. Res Sci Educ 42, 943–965 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-011-9234-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-011-9234-5