Unrealistic relationship beliefs have been shown to be related to lower levels of relationship satisfaction. Yet, young adults often hold unrealistic or irrational beliefs about intimate relationships. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an intimate relationships course in reducing young adults' irrational relationship…

This paper describes the development of a diagnostic test to assess teachers' understanding of the learning cycle and highlights common misconceptions identified through the administration of the diagnostic instrument. The Learning Cycle Test was administered to 28 undergraduate students enrolled in elementary science methods who had received…

Expands on earlier work to examine pre-service teachers' views on environmental issues, especially global warming and the related term "greenhouse effect." Suggests that pre-service elementary teachers hold many misconceptions about environmental issues. (DDR)

This study focuses on the conceptions of trainee, primary, and subject teachers about three phenomena: the motion of objects, seasonal changes, and aggregate changes of matter. A total of 198 participants completed a questionnaire concerning two types of tasks. First, teachers evaluated the adequacy of a given explanation as compared to their…

Very little information exists about children's prior knowledge and thinking (including misconceptions) about transportation, a topic commonly taught in elementary social studies. To develop such information, individual interviews were conducted with 96 K-3 students, stratified according to grade level, achievement level, and gender. The students…

The Knowledge about Attention Deficit Disorder Questionnaire (KADD-Q) was administered to 256 teachers and 92 parents. Statistical analysis revealed the KADD-Q to be an internally consistent measure of teachers' and parents' knowledge of ADHD. Findings demonstrated that the levels of teachers' and parents' knowledge about the causes of ADHD was…

In this study, high school and first-year undergraduate students were asked about their understanding of stars. The hypothesis guiding this research posits that high school students who have taken a semester-long astronomy course will have an understanding of stars most related to scientific knowledge, compared with high school students enrolled…

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is steadily increasing in severity throughout the developing world. Recently, Southeast Asia has become a rising concern for health care professionals in the field of infectious disease (UNAIDS, 2004). Most of Southeast Asia is experiencing surging prevalence and incidence rates of HIV infection. One particular country of…

Conducted in urban and rural schools in two provinces of South Africa, the present study reports biology learners' understanding of concepts about genetics and inheritance. Participants were Grade 11 and 12 learners, aged 15-16 years. The tools included a written questionnaire, interviews, pre- and post-paper and pencil tests and focus group…

An institution that is commonly taught about in middle and high schools is the U.S. Supreme Court. Many people--adults and young people alike--hold misconceptions about how it works. Interestingly, however, this lack of knowledge does not stop people from having a generally positive opinion of the Court--especially relative to the other two…

Presents a diagnostic test for measuring college biology students' understanding of diffusion. Three general steps were used: (1) defining the content boundaries; (2) collecting information on students' misconceptions; and (3) instrument development. The split half reliability was 0.74, difficulty indices ranged from 0.23 to 0.95, and the…

Discusses the frequent misconception displayed by students that chromosome structure is a function of chromosome number or ploidy. Provides detailed analyses of the evidence concerning the prevalence of this ploidy/structure misconception among students of introductory genetics and the potential sources for inaccurate communication that it can…

Beliefs about learning and physical difficulties were explored in 50 younger children (M = 5.6, SD = 1.0 years) and 50 older children (M = 9.5, SD = 1.1 years). Participants were asked why they thought some children had learning or physical difficulties and whether children with these difficulties would always have them. The majority of older…

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of eighteen 11th grade high school chemistry students' prior mathematical knowledge on their understanding of certain chemical concepts (symbol, formula, and equation). It also investigated students' ideas about the meaning of plus sign, reaction sign, and the relationships between subscript, and…

Student knowledge in a subject area prior to and after instruction has traditionally been assessed by administering a pre- and post-test, usually multiple choice, though recent studies criticize the use of even the best-constructed multiple choice tests. This study assessed college freshmen's knowledge before and after a laboratory experience in…