A History of Conceptual Change Research

The purpose of this review has been to prepare readers to understand the history and state of conceptual change, and to help orient researchers to productive avenues of future pursuit.

Conceptual change also engages some of the deepest, most persistent theoretical issues concerning learning. Conceptual change is important not only to education but also to developmental psychology, epistemology, and the history and philosophy of science.

For example Kuhn’s ideas are given in the article. Ordinarily we assume that when scientists trade their existing theory for a new one, they do so on the basis of objective evidence. But Kuhn argued that adopting a new paradigm involves a certain act offaith on the part of the scientist. He allowed that a scientist could have good reasons for abandoning an old paradigm for a new one, but he insisted that reasons alone could never rationally compel a shift.

Incommensurability is the idea that two paradigms may be so different as to render impossible'any straightforward comparison of them with each other - there is no common language into which both can be translated. As a result, the proponents of different  paradigms 'fail to make complete contact with each other's viewpoints', Kuhn claimed.

Questions:  1- What are the advantages of conceptual change learning research?