Intellectual development
A gradual, critical construction
Research on physics, materials, students’ knowledge and prior conceptions increasingly focuses on the learner, then develops into a named theory over the final two decades.
The work connects science education, cognitive psychology and epistemology, critically addressing mechanistic and empiricist approaches in parts of English-language academia.
The theory progressively integrates extensive scholarship, chiefly rooted in Piaget, with major contributions from Delval and Pozo.
Timeline
Milestones
1980
Early ideas about specific schemas
Initial interest in cognitive gaps and content-dependent structures, before formalisation.
1992
Prior conceptions in Piagetian theory
Revisiting a common criticism of Piaget and exploring domain-dependent explanations of developmental gaps.
1994
Content-dependent cognitive elements
A foundational article challenges the focus on operational schemas and highlights constructions within specific domains.
1999
Defining the scope of conceptual change
Critical review of conceptual change and its limits in explaining actual learning processes.
2000
Clarifying constructivism
Initial ontological and epistemological clarification of what becomes Organic Constructivism.
2003
A dynamic constructivist view
A fuller theory emerges; Organic Constructivism begins replacing dynamic constructivism as its name.
2005
Science teaching in early childhood education
Applications in science education enrich the theory’s teaching arguments.
2010
Vygotsky-inspired developments in Piaget’s theory
Examining Piaget’s treatment of social learning and Vygotsky’s psychological account of internalisation.
2011
Assessing Student as Scientist models
Reviewing alternative conceptions, conceptual change and inquiry teaching prepares the Student as Learner model.
2012
Competencies and cognitive levels
Competent action is redefined beyond approaches based solely on scientific procedures.
2013
Reviewing consensus on the nature of science
Reviewing science-education consensus and extending it through Organic Constructivism’s epistemology.
2014
Constructs describing individual knowledge
Concept-based mental models are reassessed; the organic schema is proposed as a better unit.
2015
Scientific competencies through two views of learners
Comparing teaching and competence models through a more psychological, constructivist view of learners.
2018
Organic Constructivism
The complete final theory: learning, teaching, cognition and individual-social integration.
Influences
Standing on the shoulders of…
Jean Piaget
The foundation: equilibration, assimilation, accommodation, awareness and reflective abstraction. Organic Constructivism extends Piaget’s organic approach.
Juan Delval
Continues and clarifies Piaget’s tradition, defending knowledge construction within the subject’s mind.
Juan Ignacio Pozo
Connects cognitive debates, helping compare conceptual, implicit and procedural models.
Lev Vygotsky
A key influence on social order, language and culture, critically assessed for empiricist assumptions about meaning acquisition.
Other authors
Ausubel, Chi, DiSessa, Karmiloff-Smith, Marina and Pascual-Leone contribute to debates on meaningful learning, conceptual change, implicit knowledge, explicit expression and emotion.
Critical dialogue
Comparing other approaches
Ausubel
Conceptual networks suit shared content better than individual knowledge with its prototypes, Gestalt perception, implicit procedures and emotions.
Vygotsky
Values social influence while questioning whether social pressure alone explains psychological construction.
Piaget
The closest foundation, extended to recognise that culture both facilitates and requires new ways of thinking.
English-language approaches
Conceptual change, alternative conceptions, concept maps and inquiry teaching share mechanistic limitations: confusing meaning with signifier, teaching with learning and logic with psychology.