The characterization of students' cognitive biases is of central importance in the development of curriculum and teaching strategies that better support student learning in science. In particular, the identification of shortcut reasoning procedures (heuristics) used by students to reduce cognitive load can help us devise strategies to foster the…

Examines letters written by more than 700 participants in a citizen-science project conducted by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Finds that nearly eighty percent of the letters, which were unsolicited and not connected with a formal evaluation, revealed that participants had engaged in thinking processes similar to those that are part of…

Organizes a reading of the conceptual change literature that brings into view a collection of design specifications for a conceptual change apparatus. Analyzes one such apparatus in the particulars of a science education demonstration program produced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Private Universe Project. (Contains 114 references.) (Author/WRM)