Earlier studies have found that students, including adults, have problems understanding the scientifically accepted model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system and explaining day-to-day astronomical phenomena based on it. We have been examining such problems in the context of recent research on visual-spatial reasoning. Working with middle school students…

With the globalisation of education, large numbers of students with interrupted schooling and low English literacy levels represent both a quantitative and qualitative shift in the kinds of students faced by teachers in classrooms. In Australia, after a year in an intensive English language programme, immigrant and refugee students are placed in…