Introduction. In L. Mason (Ed.), Instructional practices for conceptual change in science domains. Special Issue

The purpose of this Special Issue is to contribute toward our understanding of instructional contexts and practices which promote and sustain the process of conceptual change in science domains within natural and complex learning environments, such as classrooms, by bringing together recent work in this area. Research on learning and instruction has shown that humans construct individual knowledge systems on the basis of their everyday experience. When confronted with scientific information about the physical and natural world, students are not “empty vessels”. Some thousands of investigations into various aspects of their conceptions testify a great deal of interest in this field of research. Often, students’ personal knowledge is incompatible with the scientific knowledge taught in school. Therefore, classroom learning requires re-organisation of existing knowledge structures, that is conceptual change. The question of conceptual change has become one of the most investigated topic by cognitive, developmental, and educational psychologists as well as by science educators interested in the learning processes that take place during the implementation of curriculum programmes.