RT Journal Article
T1 On the epistemic value of students’ conceptions in Science Education
A1 Sánchez Gómez, Pedro Juan
AB In this article, I present an analysis of the epistemic value of the students' conceptions, as employed in the current constructivist research. I focus on the conceptions about natural kinds. Since natural kind terms are a crucial part of the discourse of the natural sciences, my conclusions are particularly relevant in science education. To perform my analysis, I use a thought experiment, adapted from Hilary Putnam’s famous Twin-Earth examples. I conclude that, to avoid some strong ontoepistemic implications, an externalist view of the learner’s thought must be adopted. In my approach, students’ conceptions are re-interpreted in terms of Hilary Putnam’s stereotypes, conventional representations of a natural kind that guarantee a semantic competence in a specific linguistic environment. As a conclusion, I argue that the role of students’ conceptions is not epistemic but pragmatic. They should not be understood as a partial or provisional representation of how a natural kind really is but as linguistic tools that permit the learner to engage in classroom discourse. Finally, I present a preliminary application of my ideas to the study of the usage of tautologies in science education.
PB Springer Netherlands
SN 1573-1901
SN 0926-7220
YR 2021
FD 2021-06-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/125639
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/125639
LA eng
NO Sánchez Gómez, P. J. (2021). On the Epistemic Value of Students’ Conceptions in Science Education. Science and Education, 30(4), 827-847. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11191-021-00211-4
NO This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio  de  Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, through the research project PGC2018-099423-B-I00. The author is a member of the research group Methods of Scientific Representation (MSR), based at the Complutense University of Madrid.
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 25 feb 2026