Abstracts - Earli

New wine in an old jar: Israeli Jewish adolescents religious practices, values and worldviews in amodern WorldZehavit Gross, Bar-Ilan University, IsraelThe aim of this quantitative research is to analyze how Israeli Jewish adolescents (N=852) who aredeeply rooted within modernity, as an integral part of their school socialization which is basicallymodern, perceive their religious identity, values and worldviews which are basically rooted withintraditionalism. The findings show that in terms of religious practice (Mitzvot) and belief(Emunah), Israeli society and adolescents seem relatively traditional. A gap was found betweenthe theoretical attitude towards religious experience and the practical religious experience. Therewas found a strong appeal for a form of religiousness that emphasizes the experiential aspectrather than the practical aspect. A negative correlation was found between xenophobia and the socalledsecular religious worldviews and a positive correlation between xenophobia and Jewishworldviews. The explanation for these findings should take into account the unique historical andcultural Jewish circumstances. Jews were for many years a minority in their countries of residence.Their Jewish religion was a means to preserve them from assimilation. The establishment of amodern civilian Jewish state is part of normalization processes of the Jewish nation and thus itchallenges these traditional Jewish convictions. A more pluralistic and open education alongsidewith religious education which is more about religion rather than merely as a practical learning(attendance in synagogue and faith) will narrow potential dissonance cognitive and enable thoseadolescents to better adjust themselves to the modern world they live .G 330 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 1.71 PóczaSIG Invited SymposiumReframing the concepual change approach in learning and instructionChair: Gunilla Petersson, Karolinska Institute, SwedenChair: Xenia Vamvakoussi, University of Athens, GreeceOrganiser: Xenia Vamvakoussi, University of Athens, GreeceOrganiser: Gunilla Petersson, Karolinska Institute, SwedenDiscussant: Stella Vosniadou, University of Athens, GreeceThe conceptual change approach has emerged from an effort to provide answers to questionsregarding the re-organization of conceptual knowledge. Over the years, criticisms coming fromsocio-cultural perspectives of learning, as well as from researchers interested in other factorsinfluencing learning, such as motivation and personal epistemologies, has brought forward aspectsof learning that have been neglected in initial accounts of conceptual change. This symposiumaims at reframing the conceptual change approach in learning and instruction, in light of recenttheoretical considerations and empirical evidence . The contributors take different perspectives onthe issue of conceptual change. Ola Halldéên, Åsa Larsson, and Liza Haglund explore differentmodels and metaphors used to explain conceptual change and emphasize that models have to beexplicitly related to methods of inquiry in order for taking different aspects, such as the contextdependence of concepts and emotional factors, into account. Gale Sinatra argues for a multifacetedview of conceptual change learning that takes into account cognitive, affective, situational,– 367 –