Science Learning Doctors
Diagnosing 'learning bugs'
Typology of learning impediments:
The typology of learning impediments is a model of the different types
of 'learning bugs' that may occur when our teaching does link to students'
thinking in the ways we intend.
Learning blocks typology:
The main distinction is between
NULL LEARNING IMPEDIMENTS
|
SUBSTANTIVE LEARNING
IMPEDIMENTS
|
The intended learning may not take place
because the student is unable to make sense of the teaching in terms of
existing ideas
|
Learning may occur which does
not match the intended learning because the student interprets teaching
in terms of existing ideas in a different way to intended
|
NULL LEARNING IMPEDIMENTS
(Where the intended learning does not take place
because the student is unable to make sense of the teaching in terms of
existing ideas)
These come in two main types:
SUBSTANTIVE LEARNING IMPEDIMENTS
(Where learning does occur which does not match the
intended learning because the student interprets teaching in terms of existing
ideas in a different way to intended)
These may also be of two main types:
Grounded learning impediments: occur because
existing understanding is inconsistent with accepted scientific thinking.
Such ‘alternative conceptions’ may derive from various sources:
- ‘intuitive’:
…the students’ own intuitive interpretation of the way the world
seems to be…
- ‘life-world’:
folk beliefs - common scientifically dubious ideas acquired from
friends, family, the media etc.,…
- ‘pedagogic’:
impediments due to limitations of previous teaching, such as
over-simplification, use of poor analogies and unhelpful
models, etc
Associative learning impediment: occur
because the student makes an unintended link with prior learning. These
may be of various types:
- ‘linguistic’: - taking
a cue from a word’s ‘everyday’ usage, or the similarity of a
word with the label for an existing concept…
- ‘creative’:
inappropriate analogies - spotting (creating) an unhelpful analogy
between the material being taught and some existing knowledge…
- ‘epistemological’:
over-interpreting models - or lacking the epistemological sophistication
to appreciate the limitations of models, analogies and metaphors
used in science teaching, and so interpreting teaching in a too
literal and absolute sense