Components of Conceptual Ecologies

摘要

The theory of conceptual change is criticized because it focuses only on supposed underlying logical structures and rational process processes, and lacks attention to affective aspects as well as motivational constructs in students’ learning science. This is a vast underestimation of the complexity and diversity of one’s change of conceptions. The notion of conceptual ecology provides a context for understanding individuals’ conceptual change learning, as it is the environment through which all information is interpreted. This research investigated how high school students’ statements, made in answering questions, reflect selected components of their conceptual ecologies. Data for this study was collected from six interviews in which seven students took part. The data also include the science teacher’s profiles of each student, the students’ personal journals, their assignments, and their examinations and answers in class. The analysis presented will here include only those components that were represented in the discourse of the seven high school students who were interviewed. When students were asked questions, there was evidence of the engagement of the various components of conceptual ecologies. These components include: epistemological commitments, metaphysical beliefs, the affective domain and emotional aspects, the nature of knowledge, the nature of learning, the nature of conceptions, and past experience. Evidence from this study suggests that these components might function as constraints to learning. This study contributes to the field by expanding our knowledge of the components of high school students’ conceptual ecologies through its definition of the categories and themes associated with those components. In examining across the range of components, the study illustrates the variety and sources of science conceptions within high school students’ conceptual ecologies.