A total of 156 students were asked to provide free-response balanced chemical equations for a classic multiple-choice particulate-drawing question first used by Nurrenbern and Pickering. The balanced equations and the number of students providing each equation are reported in this study. The most common student errors included a confusion between…

Findings from a study of 10 German students aged 15-19, using problem-centred interviews, suggest that many students hold an 'everyday' conception of genes as small, trait-bearing, particles. Analysis of this notion identified a number of ways in which such a view might restrict the ability of students to develop an understanding of the scientific…

The aim of this study was to develop a new research-based learning unit for tides to be used in lower secondary schools. The learning unit was based on the scientific theory of tides, textbooks, and also an analysis of students' conceptions. Descriptions are included of the content and the teaching-learning activities of the unit. The teacher talk…

This paper reports on a paper and pencil concept-sorting strategy that enables trainee teachers to restructure their knowledge in any one domain of science. It is used as a self-study tool, mainly to enable them to break down and understand the progression of concepts beyond the level at which they have to teach. The strategy involves listing key…

Based on a purposive sample of 15 second-year chemical engineering students, this study investigates students' conceptions of evaporation, condensation and vapour pressure. During individual interviews the students were questioned on three tasks that had been designed around these topics. Qualitative analysis of student responses showed a range of…

Changes in participant structures in classroom environments are often examined in terms of their effects on student learning. In this study, we proposed a way of examining participant structures in terms of power. According to Wertsch (1998) "the emergence of new cultural tools transforms power and authority" (p. 65). When researchers or teachers…

Personal epistemology has typically been conceptualized in one of two primary ways: as a cognitive developmental process or as a system of beliefs. The approach that is elaborated here is to conceive of epistemological understanding as a metacognitive process that activates epistemic theories, a multidimensional set of interrelated beliefs about…

I propose a theory of conceptual development in which concept possession consists in seeing the world aright. The capacity to see things aright is primitive; it is not explained in terms of grasp of a theory or in terms of assimilation of socially determined norms of word use. The educational task in promoting conceptual development is to train…

Inferences about spatial, temporal, and other relations are ubiquitous. This article presents a novel model-based theory of such reasoning. The theory depends on 5 principles. (a) The structure of mental models is iconic as far as possible. (b) The logical consequences of relations emerge from models constructed from the meanings of the relations…

Interviews university students in modern physics about their understanding of three fundamental experiments. Explores their development of models of microscopic processes. Uses interactive demonstrations to probe student understanding of modern physics experiments in two high school physics classes. Analyzes the nature of students' models and the…

Asserts that teacher education programs should emphasize pedagogical concepts that interweave theory and practice so that preservice teachers learn consistent, unified approaches to teaching, noting that the theory-practice dichotomy lacks the richness of Vygotsky's notion of concepts and recommending that teacher educators strive to teach…

In this article, the author describes an individualized term project that is designed to increase student understanding of some of the major concepts and methods in multivariate calculus. The project involves having each student conduct a complete max-min analysis of a third degree polynomial in x and y that is based on his or her social security…

The study investigated elementary school pupils' ideas concerning the concept of electricity and the effect of school instruction on the pupil's views. Pupils of different cultural backgrounds were assessed to ascertain their knowledge in four areas: Relation of certain natural phenomena to electricity; Mental models (images) of direct current in…

Many preschoolers know that plants and animals share basic biological properties, but this knowledge does not usually lead them to conclude that plants, like animals, are living things. To resolve this seeming paradox, we hypothesized that preschoolers largely base their judgments of life status on a biological property, capacity for teleological…

This article traces the development of the concept of "audism" from its inception in the mid-1970s by exploring three distinct dimensions of oppression: individual, institutional, and metaphysical. Although the first two aspects of audism have been identified, there is a deeply rooted belief system regarding language and human identity that is yet…