Profiling Changing States of Conceptual Knowledge: With Designs Toward Developing a Universal Knowledge Interface System for the 21st Century

Abstract

In this article, we present a framework for assessing changes in conceptual knowledge commonly found in scientific domains. In particular, we identify the underlying organizational patterns and contents that make up pictorial, diagrammatic, process, and procedural knowledge. These patterns are called knowledge models. Once we have defined and illustrated these models, we then demonstrate how the knowledge-updating strategies of accretion, fine tuning, and restructuring (Vosniadou & Brewer, 1987) can be rendered measurable. We next demonstrate how knowledge modeling can be used to profile changes in students' conceptual knowledge as they learn about meiosis (Cavallo, 1991). We conclude by discussing how knowledge modeling can be used to provide (a) comparability and common interpretability between studies investigating knowledge acquisition, (b) a framework for teachers to organize and transmit knowledge in their classrooms, (c) a framework for students to construct understanding of scientific phenomena, and (d) a framework for designing systematic hypertext and multimedia environments. We argue that, by using the knowledge models proposed in this article, researchers, teachers, students, and instructional designers can communicate through a universal interface for organizing and updating conceptual knowledge.