Más allá de las ideas previas como dificultades de aprendizaje: las pautas de pensamiento, las concepciones epistemológicas y las estrategias metacognitivas de los alumnos de ciencias

In this article we try to go beyond students misconceptions as the only explanation for difficulties in the learning of sciences. We review the main components of a kind of «cognitive conspiration» against the work of science teachers: the preconceptions of students, their patterns of thinking and reasoning, their epistemological beliefs and their metacognitive strategies. Usually, research in science education has focused on the two first elements, although, in recent years, researchers have started to focus on the two last factors that are main obstacles for science learning and are responsible for the failure of many new approaches in science teaching.