Role of Conceptual Framework & Factual Knowledge
For students to develop competence in inquiry, they need:
1. A solid foundation in factual knowledge which is discrete information and independent definitions.
2. Understanding of the facts in in the context of a conceptual framework which is concepts with meaning, connections between information, and rich in factual detail.
3. Knowledge organization that promotes retrieval and application.
(Bransford & Donovan, 2005)
1. A solid foundation in factual knowledge which is discrete information and independent definitions.
2. Understanding of the facts in in the context of a conceptual framework which is concepts with meaning, connections between information, and rich in factual detail.
3. Knowledge organization that promotes retrieval and application.
(Bransford & Donovan, 2005)
Teaching strategies that facilitate the role of conceptual framework & factual knowledge include:
The Conceptual Change Model (CCM) facilitates the role of conceptual framework & factual knowledge because the concepts and facts build upon one another like a sandwich. CCM begins with the “bottom bread” of individual students’ conceptual understanding of a system; it adds the factual “meat and veggies” when it presents students with new information that they need to evaluate; and it adds the “top bread” to the sandwich when it asks students to streamline this new information into their greater conceptual understanding of the system.
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Concept maps communicate previously held factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks in a visual manner. The starting point of a concept map is a student’s rudimentary factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks which are needed to answer the focus question. Concept maps provide a scaffold to assimilate factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks by constructing meaningful connections through primary concept words and linking prepositions.
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Factual knowledge and conceptual framework formed the learning foundation for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, as it developes new perspectives and analytical skills. Factual knowledge stems from cultural relevance and students’ experiences. Conceptual framework takes newly forged understandings and applies them to broader world views.
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Students must understand both the context of and the facts about a problem they seek to solve using design thinking. In the brainstorming phase, students are required to frame an issue (seek to understand context) as well as do background research to better understand that issue (collect facts). Therefore, design thinking helps students to “support learning with understanding” by gathering two “kinds of knowledge, factual and conceptual” (Donovan & Bransford, 2005).
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Inquiry promotes evaluation when coming up with factual knowledgeable questions or ideas which then leads to where inquiry allows students to connect factual knowledge they have learned to larger concepts. Depending on the level of inquiry, high medium or low, students will either use inquiry to examine a concept that they have recently learned, or they will use inquiry to discover a new concept. Inquiry is much less about learning factual knowledge, but rather understanding concepts as facts apply to the patterns facts have observed (Bransford & Donovan, 2005).
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Since conceptual frameworks are typically rooted in real-life experiences, cultural understandings, and unique events, they are not always accessed in traditional classrooms. Alternatively, project-based approaches focus on conceptual frameworks as the foundations to build upon and to analyze factual information. Students have the opportunity to learn by doing in their local communities, where concepts are strengthened by the uncovering of factual information, and factual information is given context and meaning through conceptual frameworks.
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References
Bransford, J. D., & Donovan, M. S. (Eds.). (2005). How students learn: History, mathematics, and science in the classroom. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.