Describes a study in which paradoxes about seasons, hemispheres, and altitude were used to teach concepts in climatology. The misconceptions commonly held about the earth-sun distance relationship were used as an instructional strategy with an experimental group, which outgained the control group on an achievement test. (TW)

Discusses how to address the concept of chemical equilibrium through the use of thermodynamic activities. Describes the advantages of setting up an equilibrium constant in terms of activities and demonstrates how to approximate those activities by practical measures such as partial pressures, mole fractions, and molar concentrations. (TW)

This study compares segregation levels in Milwaukee public schools and in private schools participating in the Milwaukee voucher program. Using a segregation index that measures the difference between the percent of students in a school who are white and the percentage of school-age children in the greater metro area who are white, it finds that…

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the benefits of on-line learning for adult learners and to further demystify three common misconceptions concerning on-line learning: students certainly do receive support from their on-line professors, the professor is pro-active rather than passive, and students may be more motivated to learn than in…

The knowledge that students bring to the classroom has been a well-studied domain. The types of knowledge studied have included content knowledge as well as epistemological beliefs that students hold. This study focuses specifically on preservice elementary education students' understanding of science and science learning as a meaning-making…

This paper reports on a study that used Hestenes' Force Concept Inventory (FCI) to describe Newtonian force concepts and misconception belief systems held by preservice teachers in physical science and physics students attending an urban university in Chicago, Illinois. Results indicate that constructivist instruction in force concepts was of…

This paper reports data collected during the first year of the Understandings of Consequence Project. This project explores how mismatched models of causality, instances when students' assumptions about how causes and effects behave significantly depart from scientific ones, may generate and/or exacerbate difficulties in achieving scientific…

America's corporate executives consider a huge world-class workforce superfluous. Corporate restructuring's bottom line was the massive shedding of workers, a reduction in future job opportunities, and a concomitant plunge in income, benefits, and living standards for millions. Experts predict that only 20% of well-trained college graduates will…

The elite colleges exert too much control over a vast number of noncollege-bound students. Educators must rethink two beliefs supporting the top-down model of education: faulty notions about equal opportunity, sameness, and the college-bound curriculum's inherent worth; and equally misguided notions about the dangers of specialization and benefits…

Research studies fail to support bilingual education theory, despite Hispanic parents' extensive lobbying to have their children taught in Spanish. Many Hispanic parents now realize that bilingual education has not served their best interests. The vast majority of limited-English-proficiency students receive English-as-a-Second Language…

Researchers studying attitudes toward computer careers interviewed 68 students in a university computer science course, 33 secondary school girls, and 19 women working professionally in computer-based careers. Both groups of students tended to stereotype computer-related careers as menial, isolating, and overly technical; this view differed…

Maintains that having students estimate the size and width of a class waste paper can (placed on a desk) is a simple and effective way of illustrating perceptual distortion. Tests show that people will consistently overestimate the height of the can, allowing for a useful discussion on sensory distortion. (MJP)

Discussed are some situations students face that result in cognitive conflict, possible sources of these conflicts, and strategies which students use to resolve, remove, or circumvent them. A global account for observed systematic errors is offered based on a general problem-solving rule called the "Matching Rule." (KR)

Discussed is the idea that models should be taught by emphasizing limitations rather than focusing on their generality. Two examples of gas behavior models are included--the kinetic and static models. (KR)

Students' conceptions of the concept of force are discussed. Possible problem formats and exercises are presented. The need for many formats and variations to help students' resolve their conflicting ideas about physics concepts is stressed. (CW)