What is Conceptual change

The authors describe and discuss some recent applications of concept maps to physics teaching. They begin by reviewing the literature on applications of concept maps to science teaching, and argue for the usefulness of this resource in facilitating processes of conceptual change. They then describe two experiments on the collaborative use of concept maps to this end. The first was a study of how a team of teachers designed learning sequences using three-dimensional maps. In the second, concept maps were constructed and then collaboratively re-constructed by various groups of students. Finally, they discuss the preliminary results of these experiments on the processes of conceptual change, and suggest lines for further research.