Enculturation and Understanding: some differences between sixth formers’ and graduates’ conceptions of understanding in History and Science

Understanding is often a highly valued learning outcome in higher education. If new students’ conceptions of understanding are inappropriate or are different to the conceptions of those who teach them, the quality of the students’ learning may suffer. This study compared aspects of sixth formers’ and graduates’ conceptions of understanding in History and Science. It was found that some new students are likely to begin higher education with conceptions that could point them towards a kind of learning that is not what is expected. For instance, in both history and science, there may be a tendency to emphasise the acquisition of factual information. Perhaps less obvious would be students who tend to over‐simplify events in History and those who undervalue simplification and idealisation of a situation in Science. Aspects of the conceptions of understanding that such new students may bring to their courses are described. Some strategies for developing students’ subject‐specific conceptions are also outlined.