Essentialism is the belief that certain characteristics (of individuals or categories) may be relatively stable, unchanging, likely to be present at birth, and biologically based. The current studies examined how different essentialist beliefs interrelate. For example, does thinking that a property is innate imply that the property cannot be…

Design is critical to the successful development of any interactive learning environment (ILE). Moreover, in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) the design process requires input from many diverse areas of expertise. As such, anyone undertaking tool development is required to directly address the design challenge from multiple perspectives. We…

This paper presents an investigation centered on a guided conceptual path concerning magnetic and gravitational fields, proposed for children aged 9-11. The goal is to appreciate to what extent the idea of "mapping" two fields of interaction is accessible and fruitful for children of that age. The conceptual target is to link magnetic and…

As choral directors across the country work to prepare their choirs for concerts, festivals, and contests, it is a common practice for them to invite a guest clinician to attend rehearsals for guidance and assistance. The rationale for this idea is logical and simple--two heads are better than one. However, the actual visit can be anything from a…

Various studies indicate that high school physics students and even college students majoring in physics have difficulties in qualitative understanding of basic concepts and principles of physics. For example, studies carried out with the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) illustrate that qualitative tasks are not easy to solve even at the college…

Idealized models are often used in introductory physics courses. For one, such models involve simple mathematics, which is a definite plus since complex mathematical manipulations quickly become an obstacle rather than a tool for a beginner. Idealized models facilitate a student's understanding and grasp of a given physical phenomenon, yet they…

Despite its considerable intellectual interest and great social relevance, religion has been neglected by contemporary developmental psychologists. But in the last few years, there has been an emerging body of research exploring children's grasp of certain universal religious ideas. Some recent findings suggest that two foundational aspects of…

In this study we investigated the effects of two treatments supplementing students' (16 to 18 years of age and in pre-university education) regular course in economics. One treatment, labelled concept treatment, aimed at the solidification of the students' knowledge about economic concepts and their interrelations. The other treatment, labeled…

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which elementary teachers applied their understanding of conceptual learning and teaching to their instructional practices as they became knowledgeable about conceptual change pedagogy. Teachers' various ways to interpret and utilize students' prior ideas were analyzed in both epistemological…

Various strands of research in educational, social and organizational psychology focus on structures of collectively created meaning that emerge in and coordinate activities of groups. Despite expanding, this field still lacks conceptual clarity, enhanced by the multitude of terms used, such as common ground, shared understanding, collective mind,…

Four experiments examined children's inferences about the relation between objects' internal parts and their causal properties. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds recognized that objects with different internal parts had different causal properties, and those causal properties transferred if the internal part moved to another object. In Experiment 2,…

The purpose of this article is to map the context within which learning could occur, that is, the organizational learning processes and structures that can create or improve learning in a learning organization. Such an approach produces definition for learning organization and integrates the basis concepts into a model of organizational learning…

The purpose of this article is to describe four methods for completing the conceptual development phase of theory building research for single or multiparadigm research. The four methods selected for this review are (1) Weick's method of "theorizing as disciplined imagination" (1989); (2) Whetten's method of "modeling as theorizing" (2002); (3)…

In this study, the effects of argumentation-eliciting interventions on conceptual understanding in evolution were investigated. Two experiments were conducted: In the 1st, 76 undergraduates were randomly assigned to dyads to collaboratively solve and answer items on evolution; half of them were instructed to conduct an argumentative discussion,…

We introduce a computational theory of situated language understanding in which the meaning of words and utterances depends on the physical environment and the goals and plans of communication partners. According to the theory, concepts that ground linguistic meaning are neither internal nor external to language users, but instead span the…