Describes the application of the Piaget-based learning cycle technique for teaching an introductory organic chemistry course. Explains the step-by-step process used to convert a lecture course into a discussion-based active learning course. A learning cycle provides students with concrete material and aids them in understanding abstract concepts…

Reports on a translation exercise undertaken by Polish learners of English which revealed how metaphorical expressions vary between the two languages and how this variation confuses learners. Suggests that group discussion and comparison of metaphors in both languages will increase students' comprehension and use of metaphors. (nine references)…

Investigated the development among fourth-graders of two-dimensional space concepts within a mathematics unit on grids, coordinates, and rectangles. Found that students' knowledge of grid and coordinate systems related to levels of competence in number sense, spatial-geometric relationships, and the ability to discriminate and integrate the two…

Examined in 2 studies development and consequences of 6- to 10-year-olds' awareness of others' stereotypes. Findings indicated that children's ability to infer an individual's stereotype and awareness of broadly-held stereotypes increased with age. Academically stigmatized groups (African American and Latino) were more likely to be aware of…

Examined how high school students, in individual and peer conditions, process scientific information that contradicts what they believe, and assessed the contribution of this activity to conceptual change. Results indicated two processing approaches: (1) direct assimilation; and (2) knowledge building, suggesting that knowledge building as a…

Five learning-disabled Latino elementary students read stories and participated in alternating lessons using traditional instruction (basal approach) or interactive instructional conversation (IC). Analysis of videotapes and of postlesson narratives constructed by each child found that IC resulted in more complex academic discourse, greater…

This study reports a new analysis of data on children's ideas about direct current (DC) electrical circuits. The analysis is theoretically informed by Piagetian stage theory of genetic epistemology. The limits of the genetic epistemology are discussed. (KR)

Examines how children's time concepts affects the learning of history. Discusses implications for the teaching of history. Analyzes four dominate views of how temporal and historical concepts develop: (1) development cognitive, (2) psychosocial/developmental, (3) organic curriculum, and (4) developmental historical. Offers eight approaches to help…

Assesses students' concepts of aging at the beginning, middle, and end of a psychology of aging course. Results show students' knowledge reflected stereotypes in the beginning, but during the course, new concepts appeared. Claims instructors can benefit from using this technique to plan and assess success of course goals. (Author/NL)

Describes research with Dutch secondary school students that studied the effects of the presentation of more general (superordinate) concepts on the attainment of basic concepts, and the effects of two different forms of example presentation on concept learning. Computer based instruction and interactive video used in the study are described. (18…

Reports that young children in the pedestrian accident prone age range of four-eight years hold a variety of naive conceptions regarding speed. Proposes a primary science unit using a conceptual change approach. (MVL)

Investigates commonsense knowledge schemes connecting the elements weight, air, and gravity to the phenomena of free fall of a range of students from primary school children to adults. Finds that majority of people from the secondary education level onwards held alternative schemes. Discusses educational impacts of mass media. (Author/YP)

Examined the extent to which students' alternative conceptions changed as a function of age. Reports that many alternative views remain intact throughout the school years. Provides several suggestions for teaching and research within the context of a neoconstructivist view of learning. (Author/YP)

Interviews with (n=21) fourth, sixth, and eighth graders, who were asked to construct their own notion of average and representativeness in open-ended problems, identified five basic constructions of average as mode, an algorithmic procedure, what is reasonable, midpoint, and a mathematical point of balance. (16 references) (MKR)

Discusses a method of teaching the multiplication of integers to eighth-grade students that utilizes videotape recordings to represent positive and negative rates. Videotapes of students walking forward and backward in the play and rewind modes illustrate that the product of two negatives is positive. (MDH)