Experiments involving 121 college students in the Netherlands were based on the hypothesis that the difficulty of retrieving a lexical item for language production has at least 2 different sources. Experiments supported the distinction between a preverbal conceptual and a lexical level of representation in language production. (SLD)

Discusses three steps in the development of children's understanding of word knowledge: (1) awareness that words are language units; (2) awareness that words are arbitrary labels; and (3) comprehension of the term "word" in a metalinguistic way. Suggests activities that primary teachers can use to help children develop their word…

Addresses one of the more serious criticisms made concerning the Lacanian concept of the Real, that made by Francois Roustang, who accuses Lacan of intentionally blurring the two distinct registers of this concept. Wordsworth's poem, "We Are Seven," illustrates the Real as pure loss through its representation of family relations,…

Explores changes in students' conceptions about solution chemistry in the context of instruction based on collaboration between a researcher and an experienced teacher attempting to implement strategies from the literature on conceptual change. (ZWH)

Examined 67 preschool children's concepts of authority with regard to 3 factors: adult-peer status, social position, and type of command. Found that preschoolers have understandings of the social context in which authority relations are embedded, conceptualizing authorities not solely with respect to their adult status, but to their role within…

Undergraduates (n=25) participated in a study designed to describe and evaluate the use of concept mapping in teaching a college course on evolution; determine whether students' concept maps reveal "critical junctures" in learning as the course unfolds; and assess the impact of concept mapping on students' study practices and on…

Explores and documents the frequencies of conceptual difficulties confronted by college students (n=200) seeking to understand the basic processes of cellular respiration. Findings suggest that novices harbor a wide range of conceptual difficulties that constrain their understanding of cellular respiration and many of these conceptual problems…

Involves students in a study designed to examine the interaction between children's observations of light and shadows and their developing theories in the context of a series of lessons in a third-grade classroom. Results suggest that student's observation of light led to the development of a limited theory about light that was largely useful in…

Explores the differences between the theoretical positions of Vygotsky and Piaget and summarizes recent work that extends and applies a Vygotskian sociocultural perspective to educational issues. Discusses implications of this perspective for research and practice. Contains 52 references. (Author/JRH)

Analyzes the ideas used by (n=54) 13-year-old pupils to explain the properties of substances and their changes. Reports that a significant number of pupils use explanations that have been categorized as "substantialization of properties." Justifies this categorization on the basis of a study of the history of science. Contains 34…

Reports the results of a teaching experiment involving like terms and equations in algebra. Seventh-grade students (n=6) experienced difficulties in decomposing an additive term into a difference. (Author/MKR)

Discusses some core features of Aristotelian physics and looks at their transformation by first Galileo and then Newton. It shows how the Aristotelian view was rooted in commonsense and indicates the reason that such understandings prove so resistant to physics instruction. Some suggestions are made for guiding effective pedagogy. (Author/PR)

Summarizes research related to models of understanding mathematics, describes the fundamental conception of understanding mathematics, discusses basic components substantially common to the process models of understanding mathematics, and presents a theoretical framework of a process model consisting of two axes. (26 references) (MKR)

Presents an approach to quadratic functions that draws upon knowledge of linear functions by looking at the product of two linear functions. Then considers the quadratic function as the sum of three monomials. Potential advantages of each approach are discussed. (Contains 17 references.) (MDH)

Offers a strategy for eliminating or at least diminishing students' preconceptions and misconceptions using two inseparable components: a pretest to identify the students' preconceptions and a technique of teaching by comparison between right and wrong responses to remove the preconceptions. (MVL)