Abstraction is one of the methods for learning knowledge with using mental processes that cannot be obtained through experiment and observation. RBC model that is based on abstraction in the process of creating knowledge is directly related to mental processes. In this study, the RBC model is used for the high school students' processes of…

Changes in high school students' (n = 94) conceptions of natural selection were examined as a function of motivational beliefs (individual interest, academic self-efficacy), basic prior knowledge, and gender across three assessments (pre, post, follow-up). Results from variable-centered analyses suggested that these variables had relatively little…

This study investigated whether intuitive, naive conceptions of "living things" based on objects' mobility (movement = alive) persist into adolescence and affect 10th graders' accuracy of responses and reaction times during object classification. Most of the 58 students classified the test objects correctly as living/nonliving, yet they…

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of implementation of argumentation in a physics classroom on students' reasoning. This research is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Experimental design was used for the study. For the quantitative aspect of the research, students' prior knowledge in the beginning of the…

The aims of this study were considered under three headings. The first was to elicit misconceptions that students had about the terms "solute", "solvent" and "solution." The second was to understand how students' prior learning affected their misconceptions. The third was to determine if students were able to make a…