Conceptual Change and Education: The Neglected Potential of Developmental Teaching Approaches

Research on conceptual change (CC) has revealed that students face difficulties when learning that requires significant changes to their prior knowledge. Researchers have documented the challenges in education to promote CCs and concluded that conventional teaching does not facilitate these changes. However, while designing educational methods to address CC challenges is a central aim of CC research, it is an area of research that still requires refinement. I show that developmental teaching (DT) approaches, including El’konin-Davydov’s developmental education and Gal’perin’s method of stage-by-stage formation of mental actions and concepts, are promising for addressing CC challenges but are absent from CC research literature. I first review the CC challenges revealed in CC research, the way in which three CC research trends – framework theory, ontological theory, and knowledge-in-pieces theory – interpret them, and their educational recommendations to foster CC. Next, I present CC challenges and educational recommendations to foster CC from a DT perspective. I delineate convergences and divergences between the three CC research trends and DT research concerning both educational design and theories of CC. I conclude by suggesting articulations between DT research and CC research in general and the three CC research trends in particular.