New resources have recently been emerging for educators to implement systems thinking (ST) in chemistry education, including a proposed set of ST skills. While these efforts aim to make ST implementation easier, little is known about how to assess these skills in a chemistry context. In this study, we investigated ST skills employed by students…

This research employs the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to investigate the configurations of multiple factors influencing scientific concept learning, including augmented reality (AR) technology, the concept map (CM) strategy and individual differences (eg, prior knowledge, experience and attitudes). A quasi-experiment…

Digital game-based learning is a student-centered learning environment that influences learning success and learning motivation. Whereas, a poorly designed instructional game will impair learning. Through extensive knowledge construction and high engagement, collaborative concept mapping strategies have the potential to address above problems.…

Many studies have incorporated concept maps into digital games to enable learners to make connections between subject concepts in the game. However, most learners do not associate spontaneously with the thematic concepts in the game but need to be facilitated by effective scaffolding mechanisms to reconceptualize the learning process and content.…

Active inquiry plays a key role in science education. To facilitate children's motivation, alternate reality games are applied to engage children actively in inquiry in authentic learning contexts. However, the complexity of real-world contexts and the ambiguity of game puzzles increase the difficulty for children to conduct effective inquiries.…

This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of Thinking Maps (TM)-aided Problem-based Learning (PBL) teaching method (TM-PBL) on motivation towards science learning among Fifth Graders. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test non-equivalent control group design wasemployed to measure students' motivation towards science learning (SMTSL) in…

This article notes the convergence of recent thinking in neuroscience and grounded cognition regarding the way we understand mental representation and recollection: ideas are dynamic and multi-modal, actively created at the point of recall. Also, neurophysiologically, re-entrant signalling among cortical circuits allows non-conscious processing to…

This article critically reviews the extant literature on scientific creativity and metaphorical thinking. Metaphorical thinking is based on a conceptual transfer of relationships or mapping, from a well-known source domain to a poorly known target domain, which could result in creative outcomes in sciences. Creativity leads to products that are…

This dissertation explored beliefs about learning from multiple related visual representations in science, and compared beliefs to learning outcomes. Three research questions were explored: 1) What beliefs do pre-service teachers, non-educators and children have about learning from visual representations? 2) What format of presenting those…

To explore the ways in which teacher-guided and student-centered instructional approaches influence students' conceptual understanding of seasonal change, we designed a technology-enhanced learning (TEL) course to compare, by means of concept maps, the learning outcome of students in two groups: a teacher-guided (TG) class (with whole-class…

Suggests that the construction and reconstruction of meanings by learners requires that they actively seek to integrate new knowledge with knowledge already in their cognitive structure. Concept mapping has been used effectively to aid meaningful learning with resulting modification of student's knowledge structures. Asserts that new computer…

Interviews 9th and 10th grade students (n=13) who studied an ecology unit and analyzed tape-recorded data for changes in organization of knowledge, represented by ideational networks and the development of higher cognitive operations. Provides insights into how students developed knowledge schemata, ideational networks, and the capacity to express…

Focuses on students' ability to explain their ideas in writing who were able to demonstrate a high level of scientific concept understanding during discussion. Indicates that scaffolding the writing process both at the sentence level and the text level facilitates an improvement in the expression of scientific knowledge. (Contains 14 references.)…

Discusses how concept maps with two dimensional diagrams which show hierarchical relationships among concepts of a discipline can be used in teaching physics. An example for teaching a course in electromagnetism at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil is presented. (HM)

Explores whether construction of integrated knowledge structures by students can be stimulated by concept mapping and better visualization of concepts and their interrelationships. Significant effects of concept mapping as an instructional method could not be detected. (Contains 18 references.) (DDR)