ABSTRACT
We examine folk theories and epistemological orientations (practices guiding what is worthy of attention, observation, and explanation) with respect to human-nature relations. We start from the position that concepts take their meanings from relations with other concepts within frameworks for organizing knowledge, from folk theories and from broad cultural epistemologies. This stance informs our research investigating how cultural epistemologies interact with conceptual change at multiple levels, from social and ecological processes of child-parent engagement with their environments, to cultural models and artifacts that structure conceptual domains, to the scientific practices that allow us to investigate these very questions.
