greiffenhagen-sherman-kuhn.pdf (206.5 kB)
Kuhn and conceptual change: on the analogy between conceptual changes in science and children
journal contribution
posted on 2014-02-27, 13:42 authored by Christian Greiffenhagen, Wendy ShermanThis article argues that the analogy between conceptual changes in the history
of science and conceptual changes in the development of young children is problematic.
We show that the notions of ‘conceptual change’ in Kuhn and Piaget’s projects, the two
thinkers whose work is most commonly drawn upon to support this analogy, are not
compatible in the sense usually claimed. We contend that Kuhn’s work pertains not so
much to the psychology of individual scientists, but to the way philosophers and
historians should describe developments in communities of scientists. Furthermore, we
argue that the analogy is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of science and the
relation between science and common sense. The distinctiveness of the two notions of
conceptual change has implications for science education research, since it raises serious
questions about the relevance of Kuhn’s remarks for the study of pedagogical issues.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies
Citation
GREIFFENHAGEN, C. and SHERMAN, W., 2008. Kuhn and conceptual change: on the analogy between conceptual changes in science and children. Science and Education, 17 (1), pp. 1 - 26Publisher
© Springer VerlagVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2008Notes
This article was published in the journal, Science and Education [© Springer Verlag]. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11191-006-9063-5ISSN
0926-7220eISSN
1573-1901Publisher version
Language
- en