Genetic variation is historically challenging for undergraduate students to master, potentially due to its grounding in both evolution and genetics. Traditionally, student expertise in genetic variation has been evaluated using Key Concepts. However, Cognitive Construals may add to a more nuanced picture of students' developing expertise. Here, we…

Psychologists have studied the question of what happens to naïve or intuitive concepts about science that form before accepted scientific ideas have been taught. Studies find that both the accuracy and time required to decide about the accuracy of carefully crafted statements reveal remnants of intuitive models of science. This is true even after…

In Sri Lankan advanced level mathematics curriculum, teachers are required only to provide the intuitive idea of the concept of limit. The purpose of this study is to explore the strategies used by mathematics teachers to achieve this. Twelve in-service secondary mathematics teachers working in government and private schools participated in the…

Researchers have identified patterns of intuitive thinking that are commonly used to understand and reason about the biological world. These "cognitive construals" (anthropic, teleological, and essentialist thinking), while useful in everyday life, have also been associated with misconceptions about biological science. Although…

Climate scientists agree that (a) human activity is a significant driver of recent climate change, and (b) climate change is a danger to humanity. However, the general public accepts the former point, but rejects the latter. Thus, climate experts and the general public diverge in their understanding of the relationship between humans and climate…

This dissertation examines the thesis that implicit learning plays a role in learning about scientific phenomena, and subsequently, in conceptual change. Decades of research in learning science demonstrate that a primary challenge of science education is overcoming prior, naive knowledge of natural phenomena in order to gain scientific…

Research in genetics and genomics is advancing at a fast pace, and thus keeping up with the most recent findings and conclusions can be very challenging. At the same time these recent findings and conclusions have made necessary a reconceptualization of genes and heredity, both in science and in science education, beyond the mostly gene-centred…

Research and theory development in cognitive psychology and science education research remain largely isolated. Biology education researchers have documented persistent scientifically inaccurate ideas, often termed "misconceptions," among biology students across biological domains. In parallel, cognitive and developmental psychologists…

This article explores 11- to 16-year-old students' explanations for phenomena commonly studied in school chemistry from an inclusive cognitive resources or knowledge-in-pieces perspective that considers that student utterances may reflect the activation of knowledge elements at a range of levels of explicitness. We report 5 themes in student…

Describes a study that investigated probabilistic intuitions held by students (N=98) from grade 7 through college through the use of a questionnaire. Of the misconceptions that were investigated, availability was the only one that was stable across age groups. Contains 20 references. (DDR)

Reviewed are findings on misconceptions in mechanics and their instructional implications. Many misconceptions are widespread and resistant to change but students have useful intuitions and reasoning processes that could be used more fully. One strategy for dealing with misconceptions is described. It stresses anchoring intuitions, analogical…

This study investigates how students participating in the same curriculum construct understanding in elementary thermodynamics during a semester-long eighth-grade physical science class. Two questions were addressed: (1) How does the learners' understanding change during the study of elementary thermodynamics? and (2) What role do students'…

To investigate the origins and nature of intuitive obstacles affecting the learning of elementary probability theory, 618 Italian elementary and middle school students were interviewed about their methods of solution for several problems dealing with probability. The discussion focuses on four varieties of obstacles to learning prevalent within…