Application Of ICT For Enhancing Learners’ Conceptual Change

Learning is a complex phenomenon. Numbers of theories about learning wereconstructed from one theory that learning is the brain’s biochemical activities. As the timewent by, the explanation about learning is transformed gradually from “objective theory ofknowledge” to “constructivist theory of knowledge”. The theory of conceptual change isrooted in the constructivist theory of knowledge, which holds the point that learning is theprocess of understanding of the concept in the field of inner conceptual structure. As a newstyle of theory, conceptual change can reveal the internal mechanism of meaningful learningto a large extent; also it has more power to explain how learning takes place.Conceptual change is important, because the concept of things or phenomena whichconstructed by the learner sometimes need to change, and then it can be transformed intoreasonable understanding. However conceptual change is inevitable, because learning is aprocess of construction. So in a sense, the task of teaching is to impose effective interventionto promote learners as accurately as possible to construct the concept. Of course theintervention measures are not single. Teachers not only can preach but also use technicalmeans of materialization. This research is committed to use ICT to intervene conceptualchange. This thesis firstly analyzes the causes of misconceptions and the difficulties of itschange, by using the rational model of conceptual change especially allosteric model oflearning, and then analyzes how to promote conceptual change by ICT through the keyelements of allosteric model of learning, such as confrontation, invocation and modeling.Lastly, this thesis raises the application framework of the promotion of ICT to conceptualchange.This thesis uses a special approach to promote research，via seeing visualization tools,semantic web tools, information retrieval tools, and communication tools as the performanceof ICT. Of course the tools themselves are not ICT. Meanwhile this thesis is mainly launchedfrom the cognitive level, and exerts certain restrictions on other factors that effect learning,such as intention, perception, emotional, and metacognition.