Conceptual understanding in science learning and the role of four psychometric variables: a person-centered approach

Julie Vaiopoulou; Themistocles Tsikalas; Dimitrios Stamovlasis; George Papageorgiou

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1204868

Conceptual understanding in science learning and the role of four psychometric variables: a person-centered approach

Front Psychol. 2023 Jun 15:14:1204868. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1204868. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Julie Vaiopoulou^{1

2}, Themistocles Tsikalas³, Dimitrios Stamovlasis⁴, George Papageorgiou³

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
² Department of Education, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
³ Department of Primary Education, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
⁴ School of Philosophy and Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Abstract

The present study investigated conceptual understanding in learning science in relation to four cognitive variables: logical thinking, field-dependence/field-independence, and divergent and convergent thinking. The participants were fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school pupils involved in different mental tasks, where they had to describe and interpret phenomena related to changes of matter. This brief report presents data from the students' understanding of evaporation, and the method of analysis, a person-centered approach, is explicated. Latent class analysis (LCA) was applied to reveal distinct clusters of cases sharing similar patterns of responses. The use of LCA aligns with theoretical conjectures related to a stepwise conceptual change process, and the hypothetical steps correspond to the identified discrete latent classes (LCs). Subsequently, the LCs were associated with the four cognitive variables as covariates, thus providing empirical evidence for the role of the above-mentioned individual differences in children's learning in sciences. Methodological issues and theoretical implications are discussed.

Keywords: conceptual change; conceptual understanding; congitive variables; divergent and convergent thinking; field-dependence/field-independence; latent class analysis; logical thinking; science learning.