This research examines adolescents' learning about a historical issue from multiple information sources. Adolescents read 2 contradictory texts explaining the Fall of Rome and thought out loud after each sentence. After reading, a series of questions probed their understanding and ability to reason with the information. Think-aloud protocols were…

Compared Introductory Physical Science (IPS) and Modified approaches to teaching physics concepts. Found that students' preinstruction ideas of matter and density were organized in commonsense theories that constrained understanding of density. Both curricula promoted quantitative understanding of mass, volume, and density, but the Modified…

Evaluated the PREG conceptual model of human question asking. Found the model was sufficient as it accounted for nearly all of the questions produced by students, and was discriminating in that it could identify the conditions in which particular classes of questions are or are not generated. (Author/SD)

Examined how high school students, in individual and peer conditions, process scientific information that contradicts what they believe, and assessed the contribution of this activity to conceptual change. Results indicated two processing approaches: (1) direct assimilation; and (2) knowledge building, suggesting that knowledge building as a…