Fostering Conceptual Change About Child Development in Prospective Teachers and Other College Students
Open accessAbstract
Research findings about children and their developmental pathways have innumerable implications for teachers, other practitioners, and parents, who often learn about child development as part of college instruction. It appears, however, that courses in child development do not always have optimal effects on college students’ understandings of children. This article identifies several factors that may impede effective learning in child development courses. Then, drawing from research in numerous content domains and with diverse student populations, it offers several hypotheses for facilitating conceptual change in college students’ understandings of child development and for promoting positive transfer of those understandings to actual practices with children.
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Although previous scholars had noted difficulties posed by false beliefs students bring into the classroom, very little prior research clearly demonstrates their relationship to learning.
“Although previous scholars had noted the difficulties posed by false beliefs that students bring into the classroom (e.g., Bloom & Weisberg, 2007;McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008), very little prior research clearly demonstrates its relationship to learning.”
From Lessons from the field: Isn't it just common sense? Naïve realism as a barrier to learning (2024) · cites this paper as McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008
College students in child development classes come in with incorrect beliefs about the subject matter that are very difficult to overcome.
“McDevitt and Ormrod (2008) identified as a problem that college students in child development classes come in with beliefs about the subject matter that are incorrect (such as the belief that intelligence is fixed or that classroom behavior problems are the result of poor parenting) but which are very difficult to overcome.”
From Lessons from the field: Isn't it just common sense? Naïve realism as a barrier to learning (2024) · cites this paper as McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008
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“Therefore, it is not possible to disentangle the effects of these factors.”
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“Despite recommendations for teacher training programs to facilitate an understanding of learning and development across domains (e.g., Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005), many teacher training programs do not focus on developmental science (e.g., McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008).”
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BackgroundBeyond Boyer: SoTL in the Context of Interesting Scholarly Things
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“I am currently trying some new approaches based on what I have read about my discipline and about ways to teach it (my thinking is closely aligned with that of McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008).”
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“Phonological awareness refers to an individual’s ability to recognize syllables and sounds contained in words (i.e., phonemes; Mann and Wimmer 2002; McDevitt and Ormrod 2008).”
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“McDevitt and Ormrod (2008) highlighted that the students develop their cognitive ability by the time they explore information and build schema of their project work.”
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“…principles by using such tactics as offering clear demonstrations, exercises, case studies, field experiences, and coordinating with colleagues in the teacher education program in order to ensure pedagogically necessary repetition (McDevitt, 2009; McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008; Pianta et al., 2010).”
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Francesco, N. D. (2011) · doi:10.20381/ruor-4575 · Cited by 2
“Based on the notion that both declarative and procedural knowledge are important for educator decision-making and practice (Anderson, 1980; Bullard, 2010; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008; Scardamalia & Bereiter (2006)).”
BackgroundInfluentialTowards the best employee performance model through sustainable management aspects
Simbolon, N. L., Noermijati, N., Setiawan, M., & Hapsari, R. (2025) · International journal of innovative research and scientific studies · doi:10.53894/ijirss.v8i2.6367 · Cited by 1
“Mcdevitt and Ormrod [30] and Chiusaroli et al. [31] state that self-efficacy refers to a person's belief that he or she is capable of completing a task or problem, achieving a goal, or overcoming an obstacle.”
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“Furthermore, Mcdevitt & Ormrod (2008) explain that the learning independence of students developed through education not only regulates the independent behaviour of students but also governs the mental processes of students Self-directed learning needs to be shaped and developed through the…”
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“Teachers need to cultivate their applied knowledge about how to incorporate and vary pedagogical methods for particular subject content given a student’s developmental level, learning style, and characteristics (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008).”
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“As with differentiated instruction, the Theory of Cognitive Development posits that it is important to assess a student’s readiness prior to instruction, and it is necessary to provide individualized support to teaching and learning in contemporary times (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008).”
BackgroundChoosing to Study Human Development and Family Science
Black, S. M., Linneman, E., Quitorio, G., Vang, M., & Dyer, K. D. (2024) · Marriage & Family Review · doi:10.1080/01494929.2024.2369676
“However, they also likely produce a sense among our students that they already know everything they need to know and that the major is just common sense (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008).”
You Can't Teach What You Don't Know: Examining and Improving Teacher Preparation
Hartley, A. (2010) · doi:10.14418/wes01.1.584
“Because the knowledge is often presented in a decontextualized manner, how it could be successfully utilized in the classroom is often unclear (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2008; NICHD & NCATE, 2006).”
Influential
- Authors
- McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Northern Colorado (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Corresponding author
- McDevitt, Teresa M
- Venue
- Child Development Perspectives
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2008-07-11
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 85-91
- ISSN
- 1750-8592 (ISSN-L)
- 1750-8606
- OpenAlex
- W2027227084
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 81
- Citations by year
- 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 4.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Child Development Perspectives (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Psychology of Development and Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Keywords
- conceptual change, child development education, pre-service teachers, university students, transfer of learning, student misconceptions, teacher professional development
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