In this work extensive misconceptions of university students'--from nutrition area--about the metabolism of carbohydrates (CHM) in the human organism have been documented. The results lead to consider their difficulties concerning the learning of a complex set of imbricated biochemical models involved. Pursuant to these considerations, three…

Analogy is a powerful tool for fostering conceptual understanding and transfer in STEM and other fields. Well-constructed analogical comparisons focus attention on the causal-relational structure of STEM concepts, and provide a powerful capability to draw inferences based on a well-understood source domain that can be applied to a novel target…

Visualization can be a motivating way to teach students about molecules. Nowadays, the available experimental data and accurate computational results allow students to build realistic and accurate molecular models. These models include the representation of complex systems such as proteins, membranes, or nanotubes. However, the visualization of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a brief exposure to the development of the threshold concepts framework (TCF), the intention being to illuminate for interested readers a broader landscape of research activity than that perhaps conveyed by the individual contributions to this special edition. Design/Methodology/Approach: There is…

The article deals with the problems arising within transition from the traditional to the modern educational paradigm. Taking the use of school geography textbooks and teachers' guides as examples the author offers innovative technology for the development of student's personality cognitive experience implemented due to the combination of…

Since about 2003, the notion of threshold concepts--the central ideas in any field that change how learners think about other ideas--have become difficult to escape at library conferences and in general information literacy discourse. Their visibility will likely only increase because threshold concepts figure prominently in the Framework for…

The main problem of the educational evaluation validity is that it just copies the conceptual framework system of validity from educational measurement to its own conceptual system. The validity conceptual system that fits the need of theory and practice of educational evaluation has not been established yet. According to the inherent attributive…

New research findings provide major challenges regarding our understanding of the concept of autism. These are critically discussed in relation to research relevant to classification, genetics, environmental risk factors, gene-environment interplay, animal models, biomarkers, clinical features, neuropathology, pharmacotherapy, behavioral…

This article, drawing especially but not exclusively on Bourdieu's work on practice and its relationships with habitus, capital, and field, argues for a perspective on policy, as informed by and as practice, and applies it across all elements of the policy cycle. It is argued that a practice perspective captures well the economies of power in…

Personal food system mapping is a practical means to engage community participants and educators in individualized and shared learning about food systems, decisions, and behaviors. Moreover, it is a useful approach for introducing the food system concept, which is somewhat abstract. We developed the approach to capture diversity of personal food…

The seasons are often modeled for students using two spherical objects, one representing the Sun and one representing the Earth. Solely using this model, however, neglects a critical aspect of learning--how students actually see the world. This lesson challenges students to explore seasonal variations as they create and analyze sunrise/sunset…

A considerable amount of learning, especially in the early years, is incidental learning. What is incidental learning? It is learning that occurs simply through exposure to the environment--what people hear, see, and experience. It takes place in the natural course of events, without intentionally directed instruction about how or what to learn.…

In this paper, we discuss the characteristics of a form of pedagogy capable of addressing differences across nations and cultures in ways that do not inflate differences. We suggest that those conceptual insights are particularly relevant to the teaching of "global citizenship". We have labelled this a "worldly" pedagogy,…

A major part of developing concept-based instruction is the use of an overarching idea to provide a conceptual lens through which students view the content of a particular subject. By using a conceptual lens to focus learning, students think at a much deeper level about the content and its facts (Erickson 2007). Therefore, the authors collaborated…

Statistics is often presented to students as a series of algorithms to be learnt by heart and applied at the appropriate time to get "the correct answer". This approach, while it may in fact produce the right answer, has been shown to be minimally effective at helping students understand the underlying statistical concepts. As Holmes noted,…