The purpose of this study was to develop a procedure for the evaluation of M-demand of chemistry problems. It was shown that dimensional analysis upon the Neo-Piagetian theory of Pascual-Leone could help science teachers to understand the epistemological basis of their discipline. (CW)

Investigates several aspects of undergraduate students' rules for projectile motion including general patterns; rules for questions about time, distance, solids and liquids; and changes in rules when asked to ignore air resistance. Reports approach differences by sex and high school physics experience, and that novice rules are situation…

Describes a study of the understanding of basic electrical concepts shown by 15-17 year-old students in England, France, Netherlands, Sweden, and West Germany. Reports substantially the same pattern of learning difficulties across countries. Provides sample items. (Author/YP)

The development of children's causal knowledge is investigated by analyzing changes in the content and form of the explanations they generate across the age span of three to nine years. The balance of incremental versus fundamental change and the forms each takes in children coming to understand the working of gears are examined. Three phases of…

Described are the results of a conceptual physics survey given to a small group of high school physics students with the goal of identifying common misconceptions held by students. Three common misconceptions were identified and are discussed in detail. (CW)

Teacher knowledge--indeed teachers themselves--is always unfinished and incomplete. Knowledge never exists outside of a context of use. The shift to seeing teaching as site of cultural production invites the question, What structures of human relationship will scientists and science educators construct in and through the work they perform? The…

Introduces the ideas of "distal" knowledge of the nature of science and "proximal" knowledge of the nature of science. Suggests that viewing these two kinds of knowledge structures within modern information processing frameworks that delineate roles of epistemological and metacognitive knowledge in learning should guide future research. (Contains…

Presents a series of standard demonstrations as examples of activities that can be used to introduce multiple concepts and tie different sections of an introductory physics course together. Contributes to changes in classroom dynamics by stimulating student engagement and encouraging inclusivity. (Contains 23 references.) (DDR)

Cognitive processes and knowledge structures used in physics problem-solving at the high school or freshmen college level were investigated by analysis of expert and novice human problem-solving behavior and by development of computer programs which can solve informally-stated physics problems. Computer representations for the information…

Research in teacher education has shifted from an emphasis on teachers' behaviors to a focus on teachers' thinking. The purposes of this paper are to describe categories of beliefs held by preservice secondary science teachers, to describe how the preservice teachers planned lessons, and to discuss the influence of their beliefs on their planning.…

Knowledge elicitation through programming was studied to determine students' intuitive ideas about motion. The subjects, 17-year-old sixth-form science students and 14-year-old third-form students, were asked to write expert systems programs about motion; and their interactions with their own knowledge were observed. The 17-year-old students had…

This paper analyzes the misconceptions high school students have about force and suggests that the misunderstanding of Newton's third law is the key to these misconceptions. Clinical interview and diagnostic test data (N=104) indicates that many students have a naive view of force as an acquired or innate property of single objects rather than…

Discusses the difficulties that some students have in understanding the concept of chemical reactions. Proposes that instructors try to consider the various difficulties during a chemistry course when students form their concepts of element conservation. (TW)

Performance on five logical, spatial, and formal tasks was used to make inferences about the reasoning structures of 101 middle and high school students. Findings (obtained during interviews) include grade level differences in performance and sex differences in performance on one of the tasks. Implications for instruction are proposed. (Author/JN)

This yearbook contains essays that examine the construction of knowledge. The 10 articles, which are called "opinions," are divided into 5 sections, most of which examine the construction of scientific knowledge. An editor's introduction begins each section. Section 1, "Constructivism as an Epistemology and Philosophy of…