Educational practice does not, for the most part, rely on research findings. Instead, there's a preference for relying on our intuitions about what's best for learning. But relying on intuition may be a bad idea for teachers and learners alike. This accessible guide helps teachers to integrate effective, research-backed strategies for learning…

How can a simple dot--the decimal point--be the source of such frustration for students and teachers? As the author worked through her own frustrations, she found that her students seemed to fall into groups in terms of misconceptions that they revealed when talking about and working with decimals. When asking students to illustrate their thinking…

Using the structure of a metacognitive journal, this article describes the author's discovery of an unusual method for adding fractions after carefully considering a student's response. (Contains 3 figures.)

The key to understanding the development of student misconceptions is to ask students to explain their thinking. Time constraints of classroom teaching make it difficult to consult with each and every individual student about their thought processes. However, when a particular error keeps surfacing, simply marking the response as incorrect will…

Nearly 20 years after the release of The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics' video, "A Private Universe", much research has been done in relation to students' understanding of space-science concepts and how to effectively change these ideas. However, student difficulties with basic space-science concepts still persist. This article will…

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice mathematics teachers' knowledge about common (mis)conceptions and difficulties of elementary students. In addition, it was aimed to investigate preservice teachers' knowledge about the possible sources of these misconception/difficulties, and their suggested strategies to overcome those…

The science learning cycle developed by Robert Karplus and others in the 1960's has been a useful model for many science teachers and researchers. This model stresses the use of structured inquiry to organize knowledge acquisition and problem solving. Recent research in the cognitive science tradition, however, has shown that learning and problem…

Contemporary researchers often refer to the information processing paradigm to exlain the relative ineffectiveness of contemporary instructional techniques for modifying incorrect scientific concepts that students often bring to a learning situation. As a result of this research, instructional procedures have been developed that maximize the…

Presents research findings related to students' intuitive ideas about the concepts of chance to inform teachers how students form their concepts of probability and statistics. Discusses adolescents' conceptions of uncertainty, judgmental heuristics in making estimates of event likelihood, the conjunction fallacy, the outcome approach, attempts to…

Analyzes the concept of teaching from various aspects. Reviews research on students' conceptions of natural phenomena, conceptual change, and teacher thinking. Suggests an appropriate conception of teaching science. (YP)

Mathematics games are often used in the classroom as a reward or warm-up activity before the "real" learning takes place. Many teachers have witnessed how useful games are for tuning-in students to the impending mathematics lesson. However, have teachers considered playing games as the central part of the lesson? This article explores…

Describes the nature of cognitive research. Misconceptions research in mechanics and electricity are reviewed. Research results on expert/novice differences in knowledge organization and problem solving are reviewed. Implications for classroom teaching are discussed. Lists 34 references. (YP)

Reports on specific problem-solving difficulties of 240 chemistry teachers from 5 Nigerian states who volunteered to take part in 3 written tests and an interview. Describes the contrasts between successful and unsuccessful problem solvers, and discusses the pedagogical and psychological implications of the findings. (16 references) (JJK)

The concept of probability is not an easy concept for high school and college students to understand. This paper identifies and analyzes the students' alternative frameworks from the viewpoint of constructivism. There are various interpretations of probability through mathematical history: classical, frequentist, and subjectivist interpretation.…

This study compared the effects of cooperative learning groups to traditional instruction in remediating students' misconceptions about temperature. Students from grades 3, 4, and 5 in two rural elementary schools participated in the study. Students completed a pretest, a cognitive conflict laboratory activity and a posttest that measured…