Abstract

SANCHEZ, Lourdes. Diversos términos sobre el conocimiento lego del alumno: ¿uno o varios significados?. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2002, vol.24, n.97-98, pp.26-37. ISSN 0185-2698.

The influence of cognitive psychology, and particularly constructivism, on education obliges us to take into account, amongst other elements, the importance of the student's previous knowledge in the construction of knowledge. The major part of the student's previous knowledge has been considered as common sense knowledge since it is very different from the academia or scientific knowledge that they should acquire alter the teaching-learning process. However we don't know for sure if the different terms we use to denote this common sense knowledge (mistaken ideas, preconcepts, preconceived ideas, representations, alternative ideas, implicit theories) refer to the same meaning. As a matter of fact, the review of the bibliography and the analysis we made, first taking each term separately and then comparing them, show that they don't connote the same meaning. This article reflects the author's will to make sure that those who work in education have a precise idea of what they mean by talking about common sense knowledge, and, related to this although it is not her first objective, to derive some consequences for the teaching-learning process.

Keywords : Previous knowledge; Preconceived ideas; Non expert knowledge; Alternative constructs; Creation of knowledge.