Considered are two commonly used techniques, the interview and word association techniques. Highlighted is a third technique called the repertory grid. This third technique can be used to interpret students' knowledge based on an explicit, psychological theory of human behavior. (Author/CW)

Examines the position of students' understanding of natural phenomena as being theoretical. Reviews philosophical and cognitive arguments presented by G. Hills in support of such a position. Advances alternate viewpoints. (Author/MKR)

Assesses ideational networks based on a written narrative of seventh grade students who had begun a unit on evolution. Indicates that students who scored high on the content analyses of their written narrative and whose narrative contained extensive ideational network linkages also tended to use a logical, sequential rule of ordering their…

In this study a distinction is made between routine, semiroutine, and nonroutine problems based on the problem solver's knowledge. Routine problems are solved by applying a known procedure, semiroutine problems require planning that uses functional knowledge, and nonroutine problems require generation of new functional knowledge. Nonroutine…

This study sought to answer the question, Do all students benefit equally from the use of a hypermedia Goal-Based Scenario (GBS)? GBS is a subcategory of anchored instruction. The correlation between the demographic variables and achievement and specific cognitive variables and achievement was explored using a lesson on DNA, and was tested on…

Explores the effects of Roundhouse diagram construction on a previously low-performing middle school science student's struggles to understand abstract science concepts and principles. Based on a metacognition-based visual learning model, aims to elucidate the process by which Roundhouse diagramming helps learners bootstrap their current…

Using conceptual change as theoretical lens, describes the structure of (n=4) learners' conceptual ecology within biological evolution and illustrates how this ecology influences the process of conceptual change. Prior conceptions relate to evolutionary theory, scientific and religious orientations, view of biological world, and acceptance of…

The science learning cycle developed by Robert Karplus and others in the 1960's has been a useful model for many science teachers and researchers. This model stresses the use of structured inquiry to organize knowledge acquisition and problem solving. Recent research in the cognitive science tradition, however, has shown that learning and problem…

Chemists have bemoaned for years their students' inability to solve problems in introductory chemistry courses. However, at least part of this inability must be attributed to the fact that chemists have historically tried to teach their students to solve problems by doing nothing more than working examples. In recent years, chemists have begun to…

Studies the role of intuitive rules in science and mathematics education. Describes the effect of two intuitive rules on students in grades 7-12 as they perform tasks related to mathematical and physical objects. Contains 28 references. (DDR)

Physics and management are disciplines deeply implicated in the domination of the physical and social world. This book is the product of ethnographic fieldwork that studied physics and management programs as points of entry that give access to larger processes that constitute and reproduce disciplines and center around the incorporation of…

Back-of-the-envelope problems call for approximate calculations of quantities that can be related to information in a person's knowledge but are not solved precisely. These problems provide an opportunity for the study of processes and the role of general knowledge in ill-defined problem solving. Subjects with advanced and intermediate knowledge…

Examines knowledge, its origin, the factors affecting its growth, individual and group differences, and the implications of these ideas for the teaching of science. Describes a model of learning as a conceptual change which might reconcile competing instructional frameworks so that "western science" could be taught effectively in…

Investigates how situational knowledge differs across individuals of different competence levels. Analyzes participants' descriptions of physics problem situations. Discusses the relationship between competence and the structure of problem situations, differences between experts and novices, and implications for teaching. (Author/KHR)

Investigated the nature of biology teachers' global content understandings, and sources and formation of subject matter structures (SMSs). Reports that the initial formation of SMSs was credited to college content courses and modified by the act of teaching. Variables that differentially affected SMS translation included teacher intentions,…