In this era of dramatically increased astronomy education research efforts, there is a growing need for standardized evaluation protocols and a strategy to assess both student comprehension of fundamental concepts and the success of innovative instructional interventions. Of the many topics that could be taught in an introductory astronomy course,…

The goal of this laboratory exercise is to increase student understanding of the impact of nervous system function at both the organismal and cellular levels. This inquiry-based exercise is designed for an undergraduate course examining principles of cell biology. After observing the movement of "Caenorhabditis elegans" with defects in their…

This paper raises issues motivated by considering the "identity" of problem solving. This means that we are concerned with how other mathematics education topics impinge on problem solving, and with themes that naturally arise within the problem-solving agenda. We claim that some of these issues need more attention by educational research, while…

School-age children's ability to distinguish among the concepts of aloneness, loneliness, and solitude was the focus of this study. This ability has been largely neglected by researchers. Also, the relation of this ability with self-reported loneliness was examined. Individual interviews were conducted with 180 second, fourth, and sixth graders…

In this essay, the author notes a danger concerning the general approach to teaching about the arts through improper use of the concepts "aesthetic" and "artistic." Observing that both concepts are often used interchangeably, with "aesthetic" being seen as the more generic term, the author argues that these concepts are separate and should be…

This is the first in a series of articles addressing conceptions of teacher learning, and the implications of these conceptions for improving the practice of teaching. This article provides descriptions of three perspectives on teacher learning: knowledge-for-practice, knowledge-in-practice, and knowledge-of practice (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999).…

This paper puts forward "The Conceptual Referent Theory of Happiness" (CRT), which states that a person's conceptual referent for a happy life plays a role in the judgment of her life and in the appraisal of her happiness. A typology of eight conceptual referents for happiness is made on the basis of a review of philosophical essays on…

Desiring to better encourage students' thinking and conceptual development, a fourth-grade teacher examines classroom discourse and written work during her students' analysis and description of basic geometric shapes.

Studies show that misconceptions about psychology are pervasive. This study examined how the strength of prior beliefs and the sources of misinformation relate to conceptual change following an introductory psychology course. Ninety introductory psychology students completed a 36-item "Psychological Information" questionnaire. Testing during the…

Objectification refers to the way in which everything (including human beings) is treated as an object, raw material, or resource to be manipulated and used. In this article, objectification refers to the way that education is often reduced to the packaging and delivery of information. A critique of objectification in instructional technology is…

The purpose of this study was to investigate value of combining Real Experimentation (RE) with Virtual Experimentation (VE) with respect to changes in students' conceptual understanding of electric circuits. To achieve this, a pre-post comparison study design was used that involved 88 undergraduate students. The participants were randomly assigned…

This study explores pre-service elementary school teachers' understandings of evolutionary science and their feelings and concerns about teaching evolution in Canadian elementary schools. Data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Most participants reported acceptance of evolution as a scientifically factual…

This study explores variation in postgraduate students' and supervisors' conceptions of research. Based on earlier work, a Conceptions of Research Inventory (CoRI) was trialled on a mixed sample of postgraduate students and supervisors (n = 251). Exploratory factor analyses of resultant data yields a five-dimensional empirical model, the…

For many children, especially those with reading difficulties, a motor-kinesthetic learning activity may be an effective tool to teach complex concepts. With this in mind, the authors developed and tested a game designed to teach fourth- to sixth-grade children some basic principles of nervous system function by allowing the children themselves to…

This article explains the difference between concepts and skills in music education. Concepts about music cannot be taught; they are acquired through meaningful experiences. These experiences are typically called musical skills and include singing, chanting, playing, moving, creating, improvising, and writing. Suggestions for organizing the school…