Building explanations is fundamentally what science is about. Students require support both for constructing their own explanations about the surrounding world, and for reflecting on those explanations in ways that help them to assess the quality of their explanations and the strategies they use to build them. This paper describes the development…

Open-ended learning environments (OELEs) provide contexts to support exploration, experimentation, and problem-solving. This paper creates a context for understanding the issues and challenges associated with the design and development of OELEs. Discussion first centers on characteristics of OELEs which differ from traditional learning…

This paper examines the novel problem solving actions of a pair of college students. The analysis highlights the role of the solvers' inferential processes including abductions, deductions, and inductions as structuring resources that contribute to both their understanding of the problems they face and the emerging novelty that constitutes their…

The purpose of this paper is to explore the links between equity and reform in mathematics education. An overview of the research into problems associated with equity and mathematics education is presented, followed by an overview of the types of initiatives that have been employed to overcome the problems. A framework for viewing the problems and…

This book is about the learning cycle that moves children through a scientific investigation by allowing them first to explore materials, then to construct a concept, and finally to apply this concept to new ideas. It includes integrated learning cycles and learning cycles across the disciplines, and the uses of various questioning strategies,…

This paper states and discusses general guidelines in teaching for conceptual change. Several important factors that seem to be necessary in meeting the guidelines in normal classrooms are considered. The factors relate to the teacher, student, and the classroom climate. The guidelines are illustrated using examples drawn from a fifth-grade…

Investigations of changes in conceptions during physics instruction are the logical and necessary steps to follow successful international research on students' preinstructional conceptions. The theoretical perspective integrates currently available frameworks of cognition, cognitive states, and cognitive processes in physics. Particular emphasis…

While most counselor training programs highlight basic counseling skills, few programs address the development of counselors' conceptual abilities. This study explores the changes in conceptualizations of counseling and the corresponding changes in the counseling skills of prepracticum counseling trainees. Six graduate students in a counselor…

The development of the place value system and its universal use demonstrate the elegance and efficiency of mathematics. This paper examines the concept of place value by: (1) presenting the historical development of the concept of place value in the Hindu-Arabic system; (2) considering the evolution of the number zero and its role in place value;…

The study described in this article is part of a broader research undertaking developed by the Project ESSA--Sociological Studies of the Classroom--whose main aim is to find pedagogic practices appropriate for all children. This study is mainly based on Bernstein's theory concerning the relation between social class and code and uses his concept…

Achievement in science depends among other factors on hypothetico-deductive reasoning ability; that is, on the developmental level of the students. Recent research indicates that developmental level of the students should be studied along with individual difference variables such as Pascual-Leone's M-capacity (information processing) and Witkin's…

Analogies are considered an effective method for providing a bridge between unfamiliar concepts and knowledge that students already have. This paper reports a critical analysis of analogies found in chemistry textbooks used by Australian senior high school students and is presented in three sections. The first section of the paper presents the…

This study assessed whether word processing can be taught conceptually so that students can decontextualize concepts from a specific program setting and thus achieve a greater level of learning and far transfer. The sample for this study consisted of 38 students at Central Wyoming College enrolled in word processing classes--two sections during…

The way the author's experiences of the city of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) shaped her visual literacy are explored. Along with the imagery of the steel mills, she experienced some artistic opportunities that helped shape the foundation of her life in art. Although no American city was as extensively industrialized as Pittsburgh, it was the artistic…

The purpose of this study was to characterize the prior conceptions of molecular structure that organic chemistry students expressed as they learned to interpret nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and to describe the problem-solving strategies that students employ as they determine molecular structure. The two questions that frame this study…