This article explores eight rural middle-school girls' perceptions of connections with their teachers. It rests on the finding that teachers offer a vital source of support for adolescent girls living in rural communities as girls come to a critical juncture in the development of their identities. Drawing on ethnographic and narrative data, I…

This study examined whether the use of a norms-based simulation in a communication class can influence students' misperceptions about college drinking. Participants (N = 462) were enrolled in two undergraduate communication courses: one in which the simulation was used and another that served as a control. Results indicated that participating in…

This article intends to inform physical education teachers about the current research describing the relationship between physical education performance outcomes as identified by the national physical education standards (i.e., regular participation in physical activity, physical fitness, motor competence; National Association of Physical…

Computer video games are an emerging instructional medium offering strong degrees of cognitive efficiencies for experiential learning, team building, and greater understanding of abstract concepts. As with other new media adopted for use by instructional technologists for pedagogical purposes, barriers to classroom implementation have manifested…

This present study investigated engineering students' conceptions and misconceptions related to derivative, particularly interpreting the graph of a function and constructing its derivative graph. Participants were 147 first year engineering students from four universities enrolled in first year undergraduate calculus courses with or without the…

The study reported in this paper intended to trace what Chinese children think about life and identify their naive theories. Fifty-eight 5-year-old children in Taiwan from 39 kindergartens were interviewed using a semi-structured instrument. Results indicate that preschool children have preconceptions about the concept of life even before entering…

This teachers guide contains activities and materials created to teach astronomy concepts to children from grades K-8. It is organized into four units: (1) Earth and Stars; (2) Spheres and Orbits; (3) Stars and Gravity; and (4) Scales and Measurement. Activities are arranged within each unit around six content topics: (1) Earth; (2) Solar System;…

This booklet presents risk management strategies for organizations employing people with disabilities. First, the booklet contrasts common beliefs (such as that disabilities are obvious) with actual facts and their implications for risk management. It then discusses several risk management related exceptions in the Americans with Disabilities Act…

This study focused on the knowledge of six outstanding science students who solved an osmosis problem meaningfully. That is, they used appropriate and substantially accurate conceptual knowledge to generate an answer. Three generated a correct answer; three, an incorrect answer. This paper identifies both the accurate and inaccurate conceptions…

Two studies examined preschoolers' understanding of germs as causes of illness. Previous research suggests that preschoolers know that certain behaviors lead to illness without understanding why or how. In the first study, 22 children between 4 and 5 years old were presented with 12 brief stories describing characters engaged in either dangerous…

Diagnosing cognitive errors possessed by examinees can be considered as a pattern classification problem that is designed to classify a sequential input of stimuli into one of several predetermined groups. The sequential inputs in this paper's context are item responses, and the predetermined groups are various states of knowledge resulting from…

A study identified misconceptions about resource allocation for teacher salaries that generate distrust among stakeholders, and the study examined an Arkansas legislative response to that distrust. Methodology consisted of three questionnaires. The first one was administered to the state financial director/coordinator in each state department of…

This use of the term "student's misconceptions" reflects a knowledge transmission view of teaching rather than a constructivist view. Among science educators there has been an undue emphasis on changing student views into views accepted by the scientific community. This overemphasis mirrors the preoccupation with transmitting the "right answer"…

In addition to the cult mystique that the notion of self-directed learning (SDL) has attained, controversy has arisen over its definition, its proper environment, and other issues. Consequently, a number of issues have arisen. The first is that adults are naturally self-directed. The reality is that adults' reactions to and capability for SDL vary…

In an effort to investigate the effects of a teaching strategy that helps students to identify concept conflicts through experimentation and guided investigation on students' conceptual changes and learning outcomes, 596 students (393 junior high school, 170 senior high school, and 33 college students) were administered two solution tests…