FORUM A view of the tip of the iceberg: revisiting conceptual continuities and their implications for science learning Bryan A. Brown Matt Kloser Received: 8 April 2009 / Accepted: 8 April 2009 / Published online: 29 April 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract We respond to Hwang and Kim and Yeo’s critiques of the conceptual conti- nuity framework in science education. First, we address the criticism that their analysis fails to recognize the situated perspective of learning by denying the dichotomy of the formal and informal knowledge as a starting point in the learning process. Second, we address the critique that students’ descriptions fail to meet the ‘‘gold standard’’ of science education—alignment with an authoritative source and generalizability—by highlighting some student-expert congruence that could serve as the foundation for future learning. Third, we address the critique that a conceptual continuity framework could lead to less rigorous science education goals by arguing that the ultimate goals do not change, but rather that if the pathways that lead to the goals’ achievement could recognize existing lexical continuities’ science teaching may become more efficient. In sum, we argue that a conceptual continuities framework provides an asset, not deficit lexical perspective from which science teacher educators and science educators can begin to address and build complete science understandings. Keywords Everyday language Á Scientific language Á School science Our reflection on the collective critiques found in Yeo’s Finding the science in students’ talk and Hwang and Kim’s Heterogeneous performances of conceptual dis/continuity: a dialectic reading of Brown and Kloser’s article provided ample fodder to further explore the relationship between students’ linguistic resources and science understanding. We would first like to commend the previously mentioned authors for providing thoughtful and challenging critiques. Yeo’s detailed discourse analysis of our data using the same semantic analysis of thematic patterns found in Lemke’s (1990) seminal work on science talk provides insight for expanding the potential scope of our theoretical framework and analysis. Hwang and Kim’s use of a dialectal approach to explore the issue of conceptual B. A. Brown (&) Á M. Kloser Stanford University, 520 Galvez Mall, C.E.R.A.S. #228, Stanford, CA 94305, USA e-mail: brbrown@stanford.edu 123 Cult Stud of Sci Educ (2009) 4:921–928 DOI 10.1007/s11422-009-9200-y