EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 6, page 66

prior conceptions (e.g., the earth we walk around on looks flat). So he develops new ideas that are very
different from what the teacher intended to teach him.
We have previously discussed the transmission theory of learning that underlies much school
instruction (Biesta & Miedema, 2002; Rogoff, Paradise, Arauz, Correa-Chávez, & Angelillo, 2003;
Zuljan, 2007). Teachers who hold the transmission view believe that students’ minds are like empty
vessels and that their job is to pour knowledge into these vessels. In other words, if teachers explain ideas
well and if students simply pay attention, then students will learn what the teacher taught them. However,
we now know that this view is completely and utterly wrong. Students interpret what teachers (and
textbooks and peers) say using their prior conceptions. Prior conceptions shape what students learn—
sometimes in ways that facilitate learning, and sometimes in ways that impede learning. Teachers need to
take these prior conceptions into account when they design learning environments.
Let’s begin by defining prior conceptions. Prior conceptions are the ideas that students have about
a topic to be learned before they begin learning it. For example, students’ prior conceptions related to a
lesson on the history of music are their ideas about what music is and what forms of music have existed in
the past. Students’ prior conceptions about a unit on Martin Luther King include their ideas about
African-American history, civil rights, and U.S. political history. Students’ prior conceptions about
algebra include their ideas about what a variable is and their ideas about how to solve equations.

HOW DO PRIOR CONCEPTIONS AFFECT LEARNING?
How do prior conceptions influence learning? Prior conceptions vary according to how consistent or
inconsistent they are with the target conceptions—the ideas that teachers are aiming to teach. Sometimes
prior conceptions are highly consistent with the target conceptions; in these cases, learning is usually
facilitated. On other occasions, prior conceptions are inconsistent with target conceptions; in other words,
the prior conceptions are contradictory or incompatible in some way with the target conceptions. In these
cases, learning is often impeded. Thus, the key to understanding how prior conceptions influence learning
is to understand the different ways in which prior conceptions can be consistent or inconsistent with the
target conceptions.
In this chapter, we will focus on five types of prior conceptions that influence learning in different
ways because they are similar or dissimilar to target conceptions. These five forms of prior conceptions
and their effects on learning are summarized in Table 6.1, which serves as a summary of the central ideas
in this chapter. The five types of prior conceptions are consistent conceptions, alternative conceptions,
novice conceptions, conceptual resources, and core conceptions about learning and knowledge.

Table 6.1:
Five types of prior conceptions
Type of prior
conception

Definition How this type of prior conception
affects learning
Consistent
conceptions

Conceptions that are compatible with new ideas Usually facilitate learning

Alternative
conceptions

Conceptions that are inconsistent or incompatible

with new ideas

Usually impede learning

Novice
conceptions

Conceptions that are typical of students who are

just learning

Tend to impede learning

Conceptual
resources

Conceptions that teachers can build on to help

students learn difficult new ideas

Facilitate learning

Core
conceptions
about
knowledge and
learning

Basic conceptions about what knowledge is and

about how people learn

Depending on the specific

conception, can facilitate or

impede learning