A critical analysis of the conceptual change issue, over a twenty-year period, is done in the light of a partial review of the literature and of meaningful learning theory. In this analysis, the need to assign new meanings to the concept of conceptual change that do not imply the idea of substitution or replacement of conceptions, in the learners' cognitive structure, is stressed. The discrimination of meanings, conceptual development/enrichment, and conceptual evolution are proposed.
conceptual change; meaningful learning theory