Children's alternative frameworks: Should they be directly‐addressed in science instruction?

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Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of in‐depth, conceptually integrated instruction delivered via a videodisc program in eliminating children's alternative frameworks in science. Prior to instruction, pupils in two eighth‐grade science classes, one of higher ability and one of lower ability, were interviewed to document their alternative frameworks (informal knowledge) for explaining two science phenomena. Interviews after instruction showed that students of both ability groups did not retain their alternative frameworks. This contradicts other research findings that children's alternative frameworks are extremely resistant to change and must be directly addressed during instruction for conceptual change to occur. A well‐designed science curriculum that was intelligible, plausible, and fruitful, but did not directly address alternative frameworks during instruction, changed 92% of the alternative frameworks held by students to scientific understandings.

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