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research: for example about the role of visualisation in learning science (Gilbert,
2005).
Karmiloff-Smith's model (which informs Fig. 8.1) assumes that knowledge held
in each level of the system can be (but is not necessarily) re-represented at the
next level. Conceptual development involves this type of re-representation making
knowledge more explicit over time. The student who replies to a question about the
seasons by suggesting the Earth is nearer the Sun in summer could on diSessa's
model be activating (at an intuitive level) a primitive knowledge element that (we
can verbalise as) “effects are greater closer to the source”, and applying this intuition
to the specific question. However, it is also possible that such an intuition has over
time been re-represented such that the learner actually has developed an explicit
Fig. 8.1
A scheme to explain the origins of different types of learner knowledge
