Representation of the conceptual change model in science teacher education

A key principle of the Conceptual Change Model is that before learners can consider the plausibility or fruitfulness of a new conception, they must first find it intelligible, which entails access to appropriate modes of representation of the conception. In this article, we explore the application of this principle to the problematic situation of teachers' understanding of conceptual change learning and teaching. Five key conceptions have been singled out for analysis: intelligibility, plausibility, and fruitfulness, together with the conceptions of learning as conceptual change and the nature of conceptual change teaching. Representations of these conceptions, drawn largely from the literature on conceptual change, have been organized around a framework originally developed for representing scientific conceptions in terms of verbal and symbolic definitions, images, exemplars, and analogies/metaphors. Drawing together these representations of key conceptions has accented the diversity of meanings attributed to them. The analysis of conceptions into different representational modes has value to both science teachers and teacher educators in planning how to render key conceptions more readily intelligible to students, as well as evaluating students' work and interpreting classroom discourse. This evaluative use of the representational framework also highlights its potential as a tool for reflection by both students and teachers on their own understandings. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.