The networking procedure is explored as a way to describe and measure cognitive structures. A research project at Gottingen University (Germany) tried to operationalize economic contextual knowledge as a qualification for teaching in commercial (business) education. Networking was examined as a way to measure this knowledge. Each student should…

This paper provides a rationale for the selection of illustrations and visual aids for the classroom. The theories that describe the processing of visuals are dual coding theory and cue summation theory. Concept attainment theory offers a basis for selecting which cues are relevant for any learning task which includes a component of identification…

This paper demonstrates a method for constructing long variables using items that elicit partically correct responses across ages. Long variables may be defined by students at different ages (year levels) attempting common items within a test containing other items considered to be appropriate for each age or year level. A developmental model of…

This paper provides a brief review of research on concept mapping in biology at the college level that has addressed the issues of "conceptual transparency" and "learner friendliness." For many college students, biology is "conceptually opaque." Students may memorize the characteristics of a plant, but find it difficult to identify that plant in…

The goals of education for the next century require a new conception of accountability, one that seeks to create responsible and responsive schools. This volume tries to outline such a conception of learner-centered accountability, and show how it looks in action in real schools. The first chapter provides a conceptual overview of a…

This research study focused on the knowledge structure of the domain of physics by describing the knowledge of experts, intermediates, and novices. In order to investigate these representations, a reiterative categorization task was employed using novice, intermediate, and expert subjects (N=27). The categories were classified as theory-, model-,…

This paper explores the ways of speaking emerging in a Japanese hospital in response to adoption of a foreign concept, "preceptorship," a nursing educational program for training novices in real working environments. The paper notes that although the program was first developed in English-speaking countries, Japanese nurses have recently…

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a mnemonic approach to teaching about the solar system to non-leveled Grade 9 students versus a traditional outline format. A mixture of 54 regular and special education students participated in the control group receiving facts about the solar system through lecture and transparencies and recorded the…

This study investigates and compares American and Chinese secondary students' science achievement, their attitudes toward science, and other factors influencing science learning. The subjects, in Grades 7-12, include Chinese students (N=495) and American students (N=469). A survey of attitudes towards science developed by the authors was employed…

This paper reports on an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for the characterization of models and modeling that can be useful in application to chemistry education. The underlying argument marks a departure from an emphasis on concepts that are the outcomes of chemical inquiry about how knowledge growth occurs through modeling in chemistry.…

A file folder, the drawings contained within this book, and materials such as crayons, glue, and straws are what is needed to make this resource a classroom tool for studying space-related topics with preschoolers. The activities in this book are designed to inspire preschoolers to use their creativity, inventiveness, imagination, and intuition.…

This research explores the moment-by-moment understanding students exhibit in the learning of a non-physical science domain--the human circulatory system. The goal was to understand how students learn by capturing the nature of their initial mental models (naive conceptions), and by seeing how new information gets assimilated into their mental…

This paper introduces successive and coordinate intellectual thinking skills, using concepts as a best case example. The attributes and optimal presentation requirements of successive and coordinate concepts are reviewed, and types of errors commonly associated with successive and coordinate skills are delineated. The effects of both of these…

This study presents a quantitative method for scoring concept maps generated by students learning introductory college chemistry. Concept maps measure the amount of chemical information the student possesses, reasoning ability in chemistry, and specific misconceptions about introductory and physical chemistry concepts. They provide a visualization…

The purpose of this investigation was to identify and describe the differences in the methods used by experts (university chemistry professors) and nonscience major introductory chemistry students, enrolled in a course at the university level, to solve paired algorithmic and conceptual problems. Of the 180 students involved, the problem-solving…