The main aim of this paper is to report on an investigation into primary pre-service and inservice teachers' content knowledge of decimals. The participants were asked to complete four decimal tasks including the ordering of decimals, operating with decimals and converting a fraction to a decimal. The results from both sets of participants are…

Enzyme function is central to student understanding of multiple topics within the biochemistry curriculum. In particular, students must understand how enzymes and substrates interact with one another. This manuscript describes the development of a 15-item Enzyme-Substrate Interactions Concept Inventory (ESICI) that measures student understanding…

Half of servers in higher ed are virtualized. But that number's not high enough for Link Alander, interim vice chancellor and CIO at the Lone Star College System (Texas). He aspires to see 100 percent of the system's infrastructure requirements delivered as IT services from its own virtualized data centers or other cloud-based operators. Back in…

Many students do not recognize that individual organisms within populations vary, and this may make it difficult for them to recognize the essential role variation plays in natural selection. Also, many students have weak scientific reasoning skills, and this makes it difficult for them to recognize misconceptions they might have. This paper…

This paper describes a randomised educational experiment (n = 47) that examined two different teaching methods and compared their effectiveness at correcting one science misconception using a sample of trainee primary school teachers. The treatment was designed to promote engagement with the scientific concept by eliciting emotional responses from…

This study investigated the relations among preservice elementary teachers' ideas about evolution, their understanding of basic science concepts and college science coursework. Forty-two percent of 240 participants did not accept the theory of human evolution, but held inconsistent ideas about related topics, such as co-existence of humans and…

The concept of the atom is one of the building blocks of science education. Although the concept is a foundation for students' subsequent learning experiences, it is difficult for students to comprehend because of common misconceptions and its abstractness. The purpose of this study is to examine junior high school students' (ages 12-13) ideas…

Today's students are inundated with information--via social-networking websites, personal blogs, collaborative wikis, online-only publications, and so on--that ranges from biased personal opinions to peer-reviewed scientific papers. Some sources describe science events accurately; others don't. Students should understand how this media coverage…

Students enter the middle grades with varying amounts of background knowledge. Teachers must assess student background knowledge for gaps or misconceptions and then provide instruction to build on that base. This article discusses effective strategies for assessing and developing students' background knowledge so they can become independent…

This paper examines the picture of disability portrayed within the electronic media presented to primary-aged pupils in England. The study employed proto-text analysis to examine 494 separate electronic resources which contained 4485 illustrations, 930 photographs and 59 video clips. The major finding of the research is that the media examined…

Tutors often fail to address learners' misconceptions. Although this may indicate a failure to grasp these misconceptions, it may simply be due to a wish to be polite and save the learner's face. In this study we examined whether instructing tutors about the pitfalls of politeness could increase the clarity and precision of their tutorial…

This study was designed to examine the effect of Swedish Knife Model on students' understanding of digestive system. A simple experimental design (pretest-treatment-posttest) was used in the study and internal comparison of the results of the one group was made. The sample consisted of 40 7th grade Turkish students whose ages range from 13 to 15.…

This article extends upon Susan Dion's theory of the "perfect stranger" by exploring how this position is articulated and embodied by white teachers (N?=?67) involved in urban Indigenous education reform. On the lookout for deconstruction, we think with Derrida around the interrelated self/other and familiar/strange binaries that uphold…

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have become popular among students and faculties, especially for all young population. SNSs are a relatively new technology, and little research has been conducted on the beliefs of the teacher candidates about using Social Network as an instructional tool. The study was conducted to find out for what purposes…

Background: Extant literature contends that it can be difficult for White preservice teachers to develop culturally relevant curriculum for the diverse students whom they will encounter in classrooms. Though there is a significant body of research about culturally responsive pedagogy, teacher education programs have struggled with how to best…