What Could a Complex Systems Perspective Offer to the Study of Conceptual Development and Conceptual Change?

• In Event: 81.026 - WITHDRAWN: Theories of Learning and Education Through the Looking Glass of Complexity

Abstract

Jacobson, Kapur and Reimann (2016) propose a Complex Systems Conceptual Framework of Learning (CSCFL) which they argue can provide a theoretical rapprochement of cognitive, situative and other theories of learning, account for certain omissions in these theories, such as sensitivity to initial conditions and emergence, and bring to the study of learning methodologies that have the potential to yield new and innovative insights. In this presentation I will consider what this proposal has to offer to the study of conceptual development and conceptual change.

I am a cognitive developmental psychologist who works in the area of conceptual development with particular focus on the conceptual changes that happen when students learn counter-intuitive concepts in science and mathematics. In this domain of knowledge there are certain phenomena that need to be explained, such as the formation of inert knowledge, of misconceptions, the fragmentation of students’ ideas and lack of consistency in their responses, and biases of prior knowledge in the application of new procedures. Competing theoretical frameworks such as the knowledge-in-pieces approach (diSessa, 1993), the framework theory approach (Vosniadou 2013) explain these phenomena in different ways. Moreover, situative approaches consider conceptual change learning as an activity that can be explained by focusing on the learners’ discourse (Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996).

From my perspective the main advantage of a complex systems perspective is that it can incorporate these competing theoretical frameworks into an integrative framework (see Brown & Hammer, 2008). By conceptualizing individuals’ conceptual ecologies as a complex system that involves dynamic interactions among multiple agents a complex theory approach can account for the formation of framework theories or misconceptions as emerging from smaller conceptual or sub-conceptual elements. Furthermore, the conceptual system can be seen to involve multiple embedded complex systems, and therefore, discourse dynamics can be seen to be theoretically continuous with conceptual dynamics. In such a system the interdependencies amongst the different embedded complex systems can also be studied.

Another advantage of a complex systems perspective is that it can help investigate and exploit non-linear conceptual growth especially for the benefit of instruction – i.e., help us understand how and when an intervention can have greater impact.

Author

• Stella Vosniadou, The Flinders University of South Australia