Conceptual changes for and during working life

Henny P A Boshuizen; Stella Vosniadou; Erno Lehtinen

doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101682

Conceptual changes for and during working life

Int J Educ Res. 2020:104:101682. doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101682. Epub 2020 Oct 5.

Authors

Henny P A Boshuizen^{1

2}, Stella Vosniadou³, Erno Lehtinen²

Affiliations

¹ Open University of the Netherlands, Faculty of Educational Science, Valkenburgerweg 177, 6419 AT Heerlen, the Netherlands.
² University of Turku, Faculty of Education, 20014 Turun Yliopisto, Turku, Finland.
³ Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Box 2100, 5001 Adelaide, Australia.

Abstract

Rapid and radical changes in science, technology and society may result in new scientific concepts and new workplace practices, which require fundamental restructuring of prior knowledge. Over the years a noteworthy body of research has documented the processes of conceptual change, the learning mechanisms involved, and the instructional methods and strategies that can promote conceptual changes. This research, however, focused young learners in school settings. Conceptual changes in working life go beyond traditional conceptual change consisting of processes and mechanisms that involve the interaction between expertise development and workplace learning processes.This Special Issue investigates whether and how conceptual change research can be extended from learning in schools to learning in professional life.

Keywords: Conceptual change; Expertise development; Professional career; Radical change in the work environment; Workplace learning.