The Cognitive-Situative Divide and the Problem of Conceptual Change

Abstract

In this article we argue that both the cognitive and situative perspectives need to be modified to account for the empirical evidence on learning, taking as a central example the problem of knowledge transfer. Our proposal is that we need an approach that takes as a unit of analysis the individual in a constructive interaction with the world through a variety of mediated symbolic structures, some internal and some external, in rich sociocultural settings. This should be done without denying that knowledge can be represented in some form in the memory system. While internal mental structures are acceptable in this framework, concepts should not be seen as stable and unchanging but, rather, as flexible, malleable, and distributed. To explain conceptual change, we should allow for the possibility that what is already known can be radically restructured and that new, qualitative different structures emerge. Teaching for conceptual change, we argue, should utilize but cannot solely rely on cognitive apprenticeship types of methods. Attention must be paid to the appropriate design of curricula and to the acquisition of subject matter knowledge, together with the development of instructional methods that utilize socio-cultural processes, like classroom discussion, to develop students' metaconceptual awareness and the ability to engage in intentional learning.

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