This paper provides educators a foothold in the tricky terrain of metaphor, its theoretical underpinnings and pedagogical possibilities. Metaphor provides us with a means of comprehending domains of experience that do not have a preconceptual structure of their own. Conceptual metaphors permit mental imagery from sensorimotor domains to hold sway…

We investigated the role of children's conflict monitoring skills in revising an intuitive scientific theory. Children aged 5 to 9 (N = 177; 53% girls, data collected in Germany from 2019-2023) completed computer-based tasks on water displacement, a concept prone to misconceptions. Children predicted which of two objects would displace more water…

In addition to the continuing need for citizens who can address the challenges of "human" communities, growing concerns have arisen regarding "all" life on the planet. Indeed, one of our most urgent conditions is the decline of the environment upon which all life depends. Yet, despite our concerns, there remain vastly differing…

The research question studied in this paper is how teachers' task designing can be enhanced in professional development. We show that this can be done by scaffolding. Scaffolding is used in problem solving and we apply it by considering designing a task as a problem. In the paper, we describe a professional development of four teachers led by a…

Get a deeper understanding of teaching functions, 9-12 with our concise and comprehensive Go-To Guide. Based on "Developing Essential Understanding of Functions 9-12" and "Putting Essential Understanding of Functions into Practice 9-12," this summary distills the key concepts and ideas into a quick-reference guide that's…

This paper presents a novel approach to teaching how vaccines work in the body, and introduces a community outreach project and activity we piloted with youth. Our Nuestra Ciencia program addresses scientific misconceptions among bilingual elementary school children in engaging and scientifically accurate ways. Utilizing analogies and…