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Making sense of making sense: A microgenetic multiple case study of five students’ developing conceptual compounds related to physics 10.17863/CAM.13788 Brock, Richard Andrew 0000000324978030 Taber, Keith Stephen The research reported in this thesis arose from a comment made by a student who had achieved highly in examinations yet felt that science: ‘doesn’t make sense’. Different conceptualisations of learning are analysed leading to the development of the concept of making sense as the formation or modification of a conceptual compound in which concepts are related in a coherent causal system that may be transferred to novel situations. This definition is situated within a constructivist epistemology. The research question asks how students make sense of physics concepts in dynamics and electricity. Five 17-18 year-old students, conceptualised as a multiple case study, were selected from an English secondary school using purposeful sampling. The students were interviewed once a week for 22 weeks in sessions using a range of probes such as interviews about instances, concept maps and concept inventory questions. It is assumed that data collection occurred at a frequency that was high relative to the rate of conceptual change, hence, the work is conceptulaised as microgenetic. The analysis focuses on the development of the students’: a) ontologies of concepts from concrete instances towards abstractions; b) conceptual structures from temporary organisations to more stable structures; c) understanding of causality from focused on macroscopic objects to abstract concepts; d) judgments of coherence; f) conceptual change modeled as an alteration in the ‘oftenness’ of application of a concept in a given context; and e) ability to apply concepts to novel contexts. The implications of these findings for teaching and future research are discussed. University of Cambridge 2017-10-04 Thesis Doctoral Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) en https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/267868 https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/1467aaa3-7f8f-4de6-8f5f-d57c181dc361/download 87eda9de84448d1f82354d60eee3eb5f https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/6c266158-5087-4db3-9748-0a7c7f506119/download 40b155e95a3febfa3d4c91d1e5cdc2f3 https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/ Conceptual change Science education Microgenetic Case study Constructivism Causality Ontology