In this study, first the level of interconnectedness of the key concepts concerning the topic of physical and chemical changes in pre-service chemistry teachers' (PSCTs') semantic memories was explored. Second, the group cognitive structures of the PSCTs that contain associations between these key concepts and the response concepts that appeared…

This study aimed to facilitate grade 8 students' conceptual understanding of 'sustainable development (SD)' via Common Knowledge Construction Model (CKCM)-oriented instruction. Through a pre-experimental research approach, the study was conducted with 31 grade 8 students drawn from a secondary school in the city of Trabzon, Turkey. A word…

The perceptions of students who study environmental science related to pollution are certainly different because they are influenced by various circumstances. These circumstances, among others, depend on what they observe around them and their prior knowledge. This study aimed to determine the concept of pollution according to the cognitive…

Mastering creative thinking skills (CTS) is crucial for enhancing students' science conceptual understanding. However, conventional teaching prioritizes linear thinking over the three sub-CTS essential to science learning: associative, visual, and divergent thinking. Weaknesses in these three sub-CTS cause students to have misconceptions,…

This present study aims to determine the prospective science teachers' cognitive structure about the domain of buffer solution with word-association test. The research was conducted in the spring semester of the academic year of 2018-2019 with a sample of 71 prospective science teachers in the department of science teaching program at a state…

Environmental knowledge and awareness of individuals affect their attitudes and behavior toward the environment. In this regard, it is essential to specify how environmental issues are interpreted in individuals' cognitive structures. This study aims to investigate preservice science teachers' cognitive structures on environmental issues. The…

This paper presents students' word associations with terms regarding the Wadden Sea. A continuous free word-association method was used in which the students from secondary schools (n = 3119, average age: 13.54 years) reported their associations with the stimulus words "Wadden Sea," "mudflat hiking tour," and "tides"…

Background: We adopted a theoretical framework that the acquisition of a scientific concept comprises the development of connections among conceptual elements associated with a scientific term within a mental semantic network. Given this framework, the hypothesis that the surrounding words connected with a scientific term are relevant to the…

This study aims to determine the changes in the cognitive structures of the 35 participants after ecology-based nature education in Bursa Uludag and its vicinity. This study used a single group pretest-posttest experimental mode where the data was collected by a word association test. It included the key concepts of nature, national parks,…

This study aims to compare and contrast the connotations of the concepts of "science" and "history" that were formed in the minds of students attending both Faculty of Science and Letters, History Department and Faculty of Education, Science Education Department at Agri Ibrahim Çeçen University. The participants of the study…

The aim of this research is to analyze the cognitive structures of gifted students regarding the concept of innovation. The phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research method designs, was used in the study. The criterion sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to determine the study group of the research. In the…

This study aims at investigating the relationship between student's second language lexical fluency and their C-test performance. Using cluster sampling procedure,75 undergraduate students of Engineering and Basic Sciences studying general English at Shahrood University of Technology were randomly selected to participate in this study. Controlled…

A study is presented that explores how students' knowledge structures, as related to the scientific method, compare at different student ages. A word association test comprised of ten total stimulus words, among them "experiment," "science fair," and "hypothesis," is used to probe the students' knowledge structures.…

Research in chemistry education has revealed that students going through their undergraduate and graduate studies in organic chemistry have a fragmented conceptual knowledge of the subject. Rote memorization, rule-based reasoning, and heuristic strategies seem to strongly influence students' performances. There appears to be a gap between what we…

Background: Today, for most of us, technology is a vital and inevitable part of our lives. Due to its widespread use, a great emphasis is being given to educating generations about technology. And, every individual has his/her own style of organizing and collecting information. Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to identify the…