Conceptual-change instructional design combining constructivist disequilibrium, andragogy, and cognitive flexibility principles¶

Design · All designs
Evidence · 2 claims (1 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article's intervention design rests on a conceptual change model in which inaccurate schemas must be directly confronted to prompt the cognitive effort necessary for accommodation: students are provided "an appropriate conceptual pathway" from naive understandings to scientific ones while their erroneous schemas are perturbed through activities designed to create disequilibrium. This is combined with andragogy principles (drawing on prior experience via familiar scenarios like bathtubs and bank accounts, real-life relevance, problem solving) and cognitive flexibility theory's five principles, including avoiding oversimplification, using multiple representations, teaching through cases, interconnecting cases, and having learners construct knowledge. The four Thinkspace tasks instantiate these principles in a snow-cone business scenario.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

Inaccurate conceptions must be directly confronted to prompt the cognitive effort necessary for accommodation
A scientifically accurate conceptualization of the phenomenon must be provided so learners can abandon inaccurate schemas

Constraints¶

The authors report these design principles alone were likely necessary but not sufficient, since most students still relied on the misconception after the intervention

Target Learners¶

undergraduate introductory physical geology students
adult learners in large lecture courses

Learning Goals¶

conceptual change about stock-flow systems and conservation of mass
generalizing budget concepts across contexts

Claims¶

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

Collin Reichert, Cinzia Cervato, Dale Niederhauser, and Michael D. Larsen. (2015). Understanding Atmospheric Carbon Budgets: Teaching Students Conservation of Mass. Journal of Geoscience Education 63, 222–232. https://doi.org/10.5408/14-055.1

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`design`
`id`	`constructivist-conceptual-change-budget-remediation`
`title`	`Conceptual-change instructional design combining constructivist disequilibrium, andragogy, and cognitive flexibility principles`
`description`	`The article's intervention design rests on a conceptual change model in which inaccurate schemas must be directly confronted to prompt the cognitive effort necessary for accommodation: students are provided "an approp...`
`status`	`review`
`generated`	by `process:settle-candidates` on `2026-11-02`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `collin-reichert-2015`

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