Development of Complexity through Dealing with Physical Qualities: One Type of Conceptual Change?

Abstract

An important element of our theoretical framework for investigating individual learning processes, (von Aufschnaiter & Welzel, 1999) is the distinction between cognitive processes (“every student continuously creates cognitions according to his own actions and perceptions”) and cognitive structures (“tools producing these cognitions”) (ibid.). We then must distinguish between situated activity (construction of meaning) and changes of situated activity (changes in the way of meaning is constructed in similar situations). We pointed out that we do not interpret learning as the acquisition of “new” knowledge but as the development of “new” tools for the construction of this knowledge. Furthermore, we demonstrated that each of a student’s cognitions can be assigned to one of ten levels of complexity and that one kind of learning can be understood as the increase in the average level of complexity of the cognitive processes.

In the first part of this paper, our approach is compared to similar approaches from other groups. It will be stressed that these approaches also distinguish between cognitive processes and cognitive structures and that learning is interpreted as the development of cognitive structures. In the second part, results of a laboratory study will be presented, that show how development of complexity occurs as one kind of conceptual change.