Tooltip Categories: Site glossary

representation in terms of symbols as in, for example, chemical equations (cf. macroscopic level; submicroscopic level)

(for ionic bonding) – an alternative conceptual framework  for understanding the nature of ionic bonding and ionic structures

"a very common conceptual framework learners develop about ionic bonding…Students…commonly consider that an ionic bond is only formed where two atoms have engaged in electron transfer. So, in an NaCl lattice each ion is (according to this conceptual framework) chemically bonded to one other ion with which it shares a history of electron transfer, and is then attracted to other coordinating ions just by forces (not considered to count as chemical bonding)." (Taber, 2019)

Read about the molecular framework for ionic bonding

The atomic ontology is an alternative conceptual framework that considers (i) (discrete) atoms as the starting points for chemical processes, and (ii) other entries to necessarily derive from atoms,

"…in general, chemical reactions involve molecules and/or ions, and seldom ever involve reactants in the form of discrete atoms. That seems to be a reasonable statement based on the vast catalogue of reactions that have been investigated, even if a common approach in teaching is to think about how compounds come about by considering discrete atoms…" (Taber, 2019)

The atomic ontology is a component of the octet rule [alternative] conceptual framework that is a very common alternative framework among chemistry learners.

Read about the octet rule conceptual framework

 

a representation of some target (curriculum) knowledge considered suitable for a particular learner or group or learners

 

Example of use:

"teachers will need to interpret the intentions of curriculum statements…and decide how to represent this in teaching. Sometimes this may require further simplifications…and may involve the use of pedagogic devices such as teaching models, analogies, similes, and even anthropomorphic narratives" (Taber, 2019)

Canonical concepts  are "…those concepts that have wide currency within the relevant community…the versions of concepts that a particular academic community…currently holds" (Taber, 2019). The ideas of canonical concepts may be considered a 'useful fiction' as "there are no canonical concepts as such–rather, usually there is widespread agreement, among most [scientists] who would claim to know about a topic area, about the general nature of the key ideas. That is usually good enough for most purposes, whilst leaving enough intellectual space for genuine disagreements between different [scientists] about what should be counted as canonical knowledge in some areas of the discipline…[yet] this notion of canonical concepts does useful work even if the commonalities the community actually share in their thinking are often a little weaker and more diffuse than would be the case if they shared genuinely canonical concepts." (Taber, 2019)

Read about scientific concepts, canonical concepts, historical concepts…

Bruner's phrase for simplifications which retain the key essence of the idea/concept they are meant to introduce

a treatment honed for students at a particular stage in their learning

"There should be sufficient simplification for students to access and engage with the ideas, whilst avoiding over-simplification that might act as a barrier to further learning." (Taber, 2019)

"Determining what counts as an optimal level of simplification, and so a suitable curricular model, is in part a philosophical question (determining what counts as an authentic simplification that retains the essence of the canonical concept) and in part an empirical one (finding what students of particular ages, having already mastered specific prerequisite learning, can meaningfully engage with, and learn, without distorting the intended meaning)." (Taber, 2019)

(after Bruner) "A spiral curriculum is designed such that learners will revisit areas of knowledge over time. As they mature they should meet increasingly sophisticated treatments of a topic, with increasing abstraction and nuance…As with a spiral staircase, early steps are the means of making progress to the higher levels. In designing such a curriculum, each time students meet a topic area they should be building upon what they have learnt before, and developing the foundations for later more advanced learning" (Taber, 2019)

"As well as sequencing material so that more foundational ideas and topics are mastered before those for which they make up prerequisite learning are taught, a spiral curriculum revisits topics at increasing levels of sophistication over time. That requires taking into account both the match between sophistication of treatment and what students of a particular age are ready to learn, and the logic of the discipline that is being represented in the curriculum." (Taber, 2019)

"Concepts are mental entities…, and require mental activity to be subjectively accessed" (Taber, 2019). Concepts can be understood as mental representations used in differentiating different aspects of the world, and understood tocbe focused at the nodes of conceptual networks. If concepts are connected by a network of propositions then the content of a concept may be considered as the sum of all its associations.

Read about concepts

versions (simplifications) of areas of academic knowledge represented in curriculum specifications

 

Example of use:

"So chemistry, in the sense of the content of the academic discipline, will not appear in a school chemistry curriculum. Rather, it will be represented. What is taught is a version of chemistry considered suitable for learners of a particular age, taking into account their intellectual development and prior background learning. This requires simplification of content. The school chemistry curriculum offers what might be described as a set of curricular models of chemistry disciplinary content: reconstructed (or perhaps even deconstructed) versions of chemical concepts, theories, scientific models, etcetera." (Taber, 2019)

Curriculum can be considered "that which is set out as the basis for teaching a particular, identified, group of students" (Taber, 2019).

Read about the science curriculum

the tendency of students to see some things as 'just natural' and not needing explanation, presumably because long familiarity (perhaps since young) with a phenomenon means they have long simply associated a property with a kind of object or event and no longer see it as needing explanation