Misconceptions are the number one factor leading students to failure when studying physics. To teach physics effectively, misconceptions must be spotted and overcome. Conceptual change texts are of great use in identifying and dealing with fallacies. Such texts can help physics teachers diagnose student misconceptions and the reasons for these,…

The aim of this study is to determine students' learning difficulties and misconceptions related to the "inverse function". The study group was composed of 137 first-grade students enrolled in the elementary mathematics teaching program of an Eastern Anatolia University in Turkey during the fall term of the academic year 2010-2011. The…

Children understand the natural world in ways that make sense to them before they learn any science in school. This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue helps students connect scientifically correct ideas to what makes sense to them.

More than 50 studies have examined the role of hope in predicting the performance of elementary, middle school, high school, and college students. In each, hope predicted test scores and term GPA. In many studies, hope was a significant predictor of student success even when controlling for previous grades, intelligence, and other psychological…

This paper constitutes a case-study of the "science show" model of public engagement employed by a company of science communicators focused on the popularization of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject disciplines with learner constituencies. It examines the potential of the science show to foster the interest…

Over the last several decades, "Tasers," "stun guns" and other conducted energy devices (CEDs) have become a widely adopted, though publicly controversial, form of police restraint technology. While there is a growing body of research on the physiological effects of these types of weapons, less attention has been devoted to the…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM 1991, 2000) recommends that students be positioned as sense makers who weigh one another's ideas and judge their mathematical validity. The instructional tool discussed in this article helps students engage in discussions that foster student reasoning, then settle on correct mathematics.…

This study explored undergraduate students' understanding of the chemistry topic of thermodynamics using a 4-tier diagnostic instrument, comprising 30 questions, and follow-up interviews. An additional objective of the study was to assess the utility of the 4-tier instrument for use in studies on alternative conceptions (ACs) as there has been no…

The primary Communities of Scientific Enquiry project is one element of the outreach work in Science in Society in Biomedical Sciences in partnership with the School of Education at the University of Ulster. The project aims to develop scientific understanding and skills at key stage 2 and is a response to several contemporary issues in primary…

In the present study we used the technique of word association tests to assess students' cognitive structures during the learning period. In particular, we tried to investigate what students living near a protected area in Greece (Dadia forest) knew about the phenomenon of decomposition. Decomposition was chosen as a stimulus word because it…

Adults are prone to treating percents, one representational format of rational numbers, as novel cases of natural number. This suggests that percent values are not differentiated from natural numbers; a conceptual shift from the natural numbers to the rational numbers has not yet occurred. This is most surprising, considering people are inundated…

A problem in education, that has long concerned philosophers of education, is the problem of the relationship between theory and practice in educational research and practice. Despite the fact that much has been written on the relationship between theory and practice in education, it would seem that teachers continue to cling to an image of theory…

This study aims to examine kindergarten children's mental models of the day and night cycle and provide implications for pedagogical practices targeting space science concepts in early childhood classrooms. A total of 46 kindergartners participated in the study, their age ranging from 60 to 75 months, including 22 boys and 24 girls.…

As part of a comprehensive programme to prevent non-communicable disease in South Africa, there is a need to develop public education campaigns on healthy eating. Urban populations of lower socioeconomic status are a priority target population. This study involved formative research to guide the development of a nutrition resource appropriate to…

ADHD is one of the most common chronic conditions of childhood. Teachers are a valuable source of information with regard to referral and diagnosis of the disorder. They also play a major role in creating an environment that is conducive to academic, social and emotional success for children with ADHD. The aim of this study was to examine primary…