Advancing Conceptual Understanding of Science

Main Article Content

Kim Chwee Daniel Tan
Jennifer Yeo

Abstract

Categorisation of the entities of the world are important to help one make sense of the world and this process forms an integral part in the development of concepts.  Inadequate clarifications and understanding of concepts in science may result in difficulties in the learning of science.   In this paper, the authors discuss what the term, ‘conceptual understanding’, entails in the learning of science, using examples from the topics of ‘Acids and Bases’ and the ‘Particulate Nature of Matter’.  The authors also provide suggestions on how teachers can teach for conceptual understanding in the classroom as well as in the laboratory.

Article Details

How to Cite
Tan, K. C. D. ., & Yeo, J. . (2022). Advancing Conceptual Understanding of Science. International Journal of Science Education and Teaching, 1(2), 56–64. https://doi.org/10.14456/ijset.2022.6
Section
Academic Article

References

Ausubel, D. P. (1968). Educational psychology: A cognitive view. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Berg, A., Orraryd, D., Pettersson, A. J., & Hultén, M. (2019). Representational challenges in animated chemistry: self-generated animations as a means to encourage students’ reflections on sub-micro processes in laboratory exercises. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 20(4), 710-737.

Bussey, T. J., Orgill, M., & Crippen, K. J. (2013). Variation theory: A theory of learning and a useful theoretical framework for chemical education research. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14(1), 9-22.

Carr, M. (1984). Model confusion in chemistry. Research in Science Education, 14(1), 97-103.

Crawford, B. A. (2000). Embracing the essence of inquiry: New roles for science teachers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37(9), 916-937.

Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gooding, D. C. (2004). Envisioning explanations—the art in science. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 29(3), 278–294.

Gunstone, R. F. (1991). Reconstructing theory from practical experience. In B. E. Woolnough, (Ed.), Practical science: The role and reality of practical work in school science (pp. 67-77). Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Hart, C., Mulhall, P., Berry, A., Loughran, J., & Gunstone, R. (2000). What is the purpose of this experiment? Or can students learn something from doing experiments? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37(7), 655-675.

Herron, J. D. (1996). The chemistry classroom: Formulas for successful teaching. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society.

Hodson, D. (2005). Towards research-based practice in the teaching laboratory. Studies in Science Education, 41(1), 167-177.

Hofstein, A. (2004). The laboratory in chemistry education: Thirty years of experience with developments, implementation, and research. Chemical Education Research and Practice, 5(3), 247-264.

Hofstein, A., Kipnis, M., & Abrahams, I. (2013). How to learn in and from the chemistry laboratory. In I. Eilks & A. Hofstein (Eds.), Teaching chemistry – A studybook: A practical guide and textbook for student teachers, teacher trainees and teachers. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Johnstone, A. H. 1982. Macro- and micro-chemistry. School Science Review, 6(227), 377-379.

Johnstone, A. H. & Wham, A. J. B. (1982) The demands of practical work. Education in Chemistry 19(3), 71-73.

McNally, J. (2006). Confidence and loose opportunism in the science classroom: Towards a pedagogy of investigative science for beginning teachers. International Journal of Science Education, 28(4), 423-438.

Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2013). Science syllabus: Primary. Retrieved from https://www.moe.gov.sg/-/media/files/primary/science-primary-2014.ashx?la=en&hash=E4785A5E1E5BED0D6BC2C010720993A486A537E7.

Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2020). Science syllabus: Lower Secondary: Express Course/Normal (Academic) Course. Retrieved from https://www.moe.gov.sg/-/media/files/secondary/syllabuses/science/2021-science-syllabus-lower-secondary.ashx?la=en&hash=21D677EC03ED15C456412AB2FCD2979579408CFD

Ministry of Education, Singapore, & University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate. (2021). Chemistry (Syllabus 6092). Retrieved from https://www.seab.gov.sg/docs/default-source/national-examinations/syllabus/olevel/2023syllabus/6092_y23_sy.pdf.

Nakhleh, M. B., & Krajcik, J. S. (1994). Influence of levels of information as presented by different technologies on students' understanding of acid, base, and pH concepts. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31(10), 1077-1096.

Nakhleh, M. B., Polles, J., & Malina, E. (2002). Learning chemistry in a laboratory environment. In J.K. Gilbert, O. De Jong, R. Justi, D.F. Treagust, & J. H. Van Driel (Eds.), Chemical education: Towards research-based practice (pp. 69-94). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Nersessian, N. (1992). Constructing and instructing: The role of “abstraction techniques” in creating and learning physics. In R. Duschl & D. Hamilton (Eds.), Cognitive psychology, and educational theory and practice (pp. 48–68). New York: State University of New York Press.

Novak, J. D. (1988). Learning of science and the science of learning. Studies in Science Education, 15(1), 77-101.

Novak, J. D. (2002). Meaningful learning: The essential factor for conceptual change in limited or inappropriate propositional hierarchies leading to empowerment of learners. Science Education, 86(4), 548-571.

Ratcliffe, M., Bartholomew, H., Hames, V., Hind, A., Leach, J., Millar, R., & Osborne, J. (2004). Evidence-based Practice in Science Education (EPSE) Research Report: Science education practitioners’ views of research and its influence on their practice. York: University of York.

Robertson, A. D., & Shaffer, P. S. (2013). University student and K-12 teacher reasoning about the basic tenets of kinetic-molecular theory, Part I: Volume of an ideal gas. American Journal of Physics, 81(4), 303-312.

Schmidt, H. J. (1991). A label as a hidden persuader: chemists’ neutralisation concept. International Journal of Science Education, 13(4), 459-471.

Sere, M-. G. (2002). Towards renewed research questions from the outcomes of the European project ‘Labwork in Science Education’. Science Education, 86(5), 624-644.

Tan, K. C. D. (2020). Facilitating the use of research in practice: Teaching students to plan experiments. In T. W. Teo, A.-L. Tan, & Y. S. Ong (Eds.), Science education in the 21stcentury: Re-searching issues that matter from different lenses (pp. 181-190). Singapore: Springer.

Tan, K. C. D., & Chee, Y. S. (2014). Playing games, learning science: promise and challenges. Australian Journal of Education in Chemistry, 73, 20-28.

Tan, K.C.D., Goh, N.K., Chia, L.S., & Treagust, D.F. (2002). Development and application of a two-tier diagnostic instrument to assess high school students' understanding of inorganic chemistry qualitative analysis. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(4), 283-301.

Tasker, R. & Freyberg, P. (1985). Facing the mismatches in the classroom. In Osborne, R. & Freyberg, P. (Eds.), Learning in science: The implications of children’s science (pp. 66-80). Auckland, London: Heinemann.

Woolnough, B., & Allsop, T. (1985). Practical work in science. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Yeo, J. & Gilbert, J. K. (2022). Producing scientific explanations in physics – A multimodal account. Research in Science Education, 52(3), 819–852.

Yeo, J., Lim, E., Tan, K. C. D., Ong, Y. S (2021). The efficacy of an image-to-writing approach to learning abstract scientific concepts: Temperature and heat. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 19(1), 21–44.