Microgenetic Learning Analysis: A Distinction without a Difference Commentary on Parnafes and diSessa

摘要

Parnafes and diSessa [this issue] present a useful description of the process of doing microgenetic analysis of qualitative data and report interesting findings about how students' reasoning changes as they gain relevant experience. We are pleased that microgenetic approaches are being applied to educational issues and agree with the authors that new knowledge can be gained by closely examining changes in students' thinking over time. Conceptual change is a topic that has been mostly overlooked in the microgenetic literature [for exceptions, see Amsterlaw & Wellman, 2006; Opfer & Siegler, 2004; Schoenfeld, Smith, & Arcavi, 1993]; yet it is an area where close observation of changing behavior is likely to yield large theoretical gains.