What are conceptual frameworks?
It is the job of conceptual frameworks to connect and organize knowledge to make it more meaningful. Conceptual frameworks may go by a number of different names such as cognitive frameworks, core concepts, mental structures, mental models, scaffolding, schemas or big ideas. They are artificial structures imposed on reality to help us more effectively understand and manage reality. This pattern-making capacity has enabled humans to modify our relationship to our surroundings far more than any other species. The alphabet, for example, is an artificial structure imposed on spoken language that enables us to read and write. Regions are artificial constructs imposed on areas of the earth’s surface. You are reading about one component of a three-part structure imposed on the question of “what to teach” in history classrooms. A review of literature from history education and cognitive research strongly suggests that conceptual frameworks, by whatever name, contribute to meaningful understandi
