Conceptual Change—Multiple Routes, Multiple Mechanisms: A Commentary on Ohlsson (2009)

Abstract

This article presents a commentary on Stellan Ohlsson's (2009) theory of conceptual change by resubsumption and competitive evaluation of cognitive utility. We note two features of Ohlsson's theory that we think are particularly strong. We then argue that Ohlsson's theory explains one route to conceptual change but that there are many other routes to conceptual change that require mechanisms other than Ohlsson's. We discuss a number of these multiple routes to conceptual change. Theories of conceptual change should attempt to explain the broad diversity of routes along which conceptual change occurs.

Notes

¹Ohlsson argues that White and Frederiksen's (1998) instructional intervention is an example of his displacement strategy of instruction because students developed conceptions applicable to real motion while using a computer microworld simulation world rather than conducting real-world experiments. However, teachers directed students early in the curriculum to consider the relationships between the computer microworld and the real world, so we think that this is instead an example of instruction in which students actively coordinate theories with evidence.