Responses to anomalous data on controversial topics and theory change

This qualitative study was concerned with the role of anomalous data on controversial topics in the process of theory change. Its main aim was to identify the types of reasons that eighth graders gave for accepting or refusing evidence conflicting with their held theory and to see whether those types of reasons fitted into the taxonomy of responses proposed by Chinn and Brewer (Journal of Research in Science Teaching 35 (1998) 623–654). Two controversial topics were chosen: the extinction of the dinosaurs and the construction of the great pyramids in Giza, Egypt. The results showed that the 24 categories of reasons given by the participants, who were much younger than those involved in the study by Chinn and Brewer, fitted into their revised taxonomy, which consists of eight responses, with the exception of the response “ignoring”. Educational implications are drawn.