Examining evidence for the effects and antecedents of plurality in revising science misconceptions

One goal in science education is to revise common misconceptions. However, research on knowledge revision demonstrates that scientific and alternative conceptions continue to coexist in learners’ mental representations. This chapter contends that representational plurality is an important yet neglected phenomenon in knowledge revision research that should be more fully integrated into the core of learning theories to improve explanations of how and why people learn and use new science knowledge across multiple contexts. We review the Knowledge Revisions Components framework, which makes several theoretical assumptions that directly implicate plurality and may offer one useful perspective to understand this phenomenon. Next, we examine several lines of prior empirical research from the specific lens of pluralism, and in particular, its effects on learning and potential motivational antecedents. Finally, we conclude with a discussion on promising avenues for future educational practice and knowledge revision intervention with an understanding plurality explicitly integrated at its core.