Fostering students' bidirectional conception of the equal sign (viewing the equal sign as indicating an equivalence of two sides rather than a 'show result' symbol) is challenging, and students' misconception of the equal sign is persistent. Some studies mention that in China, the pedagogical approach to introducing the equal sign supports…

This study aims to reconstruct Grade 11 students' misconceptions about force through the Conceptual Change Model (CCM) making use of Predict, Discuss, Explain, Observe, Discuss, Explore, Explain (PDEODEE) tasks. This study was conducted using a mixedmethod approach. The participants in this study were 65 students (33 students in the experiment…

The internet has become a key environment for children's learning and leisure at an increasing early age. Yet, little is known about what children understand about the internet. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 111 children aged five to nine to assess their notions about the internet, the authorship of online content and the…

Science and engineering practices (SEPs) and crosscutting concepts (CCs) constitute a significant part of "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC 2012). As teachers, the role of the authors is to highlight the pivotal role that both scientific knowledge and the practices used to generate knowledge play in learning. This article…

Experts claim that individual differences in children's formal understanding of mathematical equivalence have consequences for mathematics achievement; however, evidence is lacking. A prospective, longitudinal study was conducted with a diverse sample of 112 children from a midsized city in the Midwestern United States (M[subscript age] [second…

The purpose of this research was to explore children's understandings of everyday, synthetic and scientific concepts to enable a description of how abstract, verbally taught material relates to previous experience-based knowledge and the consistency of understanding about cloud formation. This study examined the conceptual understandings of cloud…

In this article, the authors describe how their first-grade class used the book "Inch by Inch" (Lionni 1960)--the story of an inchworm that escapes from a hungry robin by proving he is useful for measuring--as inspiration for a lesson focused on exploring length measurement through examining the meaning of an inch. The authors designed a…

Based on a study with six elementary school teachers and 115 students in grades 3, 4, and 5, this article discusses ways that teachers might support an understanding of variable as students explore pattern-finding activities. The practices emerged from interviews with teachers and a yearlong observation of teaching algebraic thinking during an…

What is Israel in the minds and hearts of young American Jewish children? Through interviews and photo and music elicitation exercises, this research uncovers how day school kindergarten students conceive of Israel. This study, part of an ongoing longitudinal project, shows how 5- and 6-year-old children are able to form a multilayered conception…

This paper reports classroom research dealing with the difficulties encountered by schoolchildren in the acquisition of angle concept. Two obstacles were pointed out in previous studies: the side-length obstacle and the salience of the prototypical right angle. The first aim of the present study is to determine the extent to which a teaching…

Children understand the natural world in ways that make sense to them before they learn any science in school. This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue helps students connect scientifically correct ideas to what makes sense to them.

Place value is a key concept for numbers that is introduced in early mathematics. It is necessary to have a flexible understanding of place value for efficient arithmetic strategies and success in written algorithmic arithmetic. In our research we explore typical mistakes and misconceptions that occur with 3rd graders in German elementary school…

Conceptual change requires learners to restructure parts of their conceptual knowledge base. Prior research has identified the fragmentation and the integration of knowledge as 2 important component processes of knowledge restructuring but remains unclear as to their relative importance and the time of their occurrence during development. Previous…

The purpose of this study is to explore primary school children's understandings about the shape of the Earth. The sample is consisted of 124 first-graders from five primary schools located in an urban city of Turkey. The data of the study were collected through children's drawings and semi-structured interviews. Results obtained from the drawings…