Pictorial Socratic dialogue and conceptual change

Counter-examples used in a Socratic dialogue aim to provoke reflection to effect conceptual changes. However, natural language forms of Socratic dialogues have their limitations. To address this problem, we propose an alternative form of Socratic dialogue called the pictorial Socratic dialogue. A Spring Balance System has been designed to provide a platform for the investigation of the effects of this pedagogy on conceptual changes. This system allows learners to run and observe an experiment. Qualitative Cartesian graphs are employed for learners to represent their solutions. Indirect and intelligent feedback is prescribed through two approaches in the pictorial Socratic dialogue which aim to provoke learners probe through the perceptual structural features of the problem and solution, into the deeper level of the simulation where Archimedes’ Principle governs.