This view of students’ conceptual change, then, provided an organizing scheme for
education research and development. First, it shifted educators’ understanding of student errors. Whereas previously students were seen as just making mistakes, now they were seen as scientists applying alternative theories to interpretations of phenomena. This helped to make sense of why students seemed “resistant” to new ideas, and it drew attention to the need to understand their existing theories: The field needed research to lay out these alternative theoretical frameworks. Second, it guided educators to understand the need for instruction not merely to present new ideas but to elicit and address students’ existing ideas.