Analyzes from an historical perspective the extension of the natural-number domain to integers in students' transition from arithmetic to algebra in the context of word problems. Extracts four levels of acceptance of these numbers--subtrahend, relative number, isolated number and formal negative number--from historical texts. The first three…

Investigates students' mental models of chemical equilibrium using dynamic science assessments. Reports that students at various levels have misconceptions about chemical equilibrium. Involves 10th grade students (n=30) in the study doing a series of hands-on chemical experiments. Focuses on the process of constructing mental models, dynamic…

Analyzes (n=32) Brazilian secondary school students' interactions (conflicts, controversies, and arguments) as they participate in an intact 9th grade classroom activity designed to facilitate their understanding of heat energy and temperature. Reports that the differentiation between heat energy and temperature constitutes considerable…

Suggests a new framework for analyzing attitude and changes in attitude. Identifies four different evaluative processes as aspects of attitude: (1) emotions aroused in the situation; (2) emotions associated with the stimuli; (3) expected consequences; and (4) relating the situation to personal values. Illustrates the usefulness of this analytical…

Presents evidence that there exists much confusion regarding the connection between the algebraic and geometric aspects of slope, scale, and angle. Participants responded to a simple but non-standard task concerning the behavior of slope under a non-homogeneous change of scale. Analysis of the responses reveals two main approaches termed…

Presents a new research-based course on quantum mechanics in which the conceptual issues of quantum mechanics are taught at an introductory level. Involves students in the discovery of how quantum phenomena deviate from classical everyday experiences. (Contains 31 references.) (Author/YDS)

Explains the critical role of probability in making sense of quantum physics and addresses the difficulties science and engineering undergraduates experience in helping students build a model of how to think about probability in physical systems. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/YDS)

Introduces the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) which was developed to assess students' knowledge of topics in electricity and magnetism. Reports on the number of student difficulties in electricity and magnetism. (Contains 23 references.) (Author/YDS)

Explores gender differences in the knowledge constructed about World War II by 11- and 12-year-old Scottish pupils. Reveals the young women's work showcased individuals while the young men framed World War II information using a world view. Illustrates the epistemological differences that can exist between male and female students as they…

Identifies big ideas for the informal study of algebra-related topics in the middle grades including notation, variable, function, and properties of number. Suggests meaningful ways to accomplish them. (YDS)

Describes some differences in representations of mathematical concepts and procedures of recent immigrants. Discusses considerations for success of recent immigrants. (YDS)

Describes probability games and tasks to help students educate their primitive intuitions connected with the concept of "fairness" in the outcomes of compound events. (YDS)

Nine experiments examined 6- to 10-month-olds' formation of an abstract category representation for "between." Findings indicated that older, but not younger infants, could form an abstract category representation for "between" when performing in an object-variation version of the between categorization task. Six- to…

Investigates adults' long-term memory of mathematics learned in high school. Reports findings regarding the subjects' attempts to draw graphs of simple linear functions. Categorizes diverse responses to the task of drawing a graph of a linear function. Analyzes in detail three cases based on recall theories that explain the mechanism of recalling…

Reviews the fundamental components inherent in the process of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability. It is proposed that psychosocial outcomes correspond to specific or global indicators of quality of life and may be categorized according to their functional domains, content areas, technologies or methods of assessment, and…