The analysis of students' conceptions is a crucial element in modern science education research. Based on a large number of studies, we know that learning environments should build upon students' existing knowledge to initiate conceptual change towards an adequate scientific understanding. This also holds true when it comes to moral reasoning. In…

This study researched the use of metaphor among students and teachers to determine the images they had in their minds regarding a specific set of developed countries, and in doing so, utilized a longitudinal design carried out over four stages between November 2015 and November 2018 within a large metropolitan city in Turkey. The study findings…

Many geoscience phenomena cannot be perceived at human temporal or spatial scales. As a consequence, we can only understand many processes that drive geological phenomena through analogical reasoning. Building deep conceptual understanding requires instruction that activates the appropriate source analogs and allows students to build useful…

To date, there has only been little conceptual change research regarding conceptions about glaciers. This study used the theoretical background of embodied cognition to reconstruct different metaphorical concepts with respect to the structure of a glacier. Applying the Model of Educational Reconstruction, the conceptions of students and scientists…

Over the last 20 years, science education studies have reported that there are very different understandings among students of science regarding the key aspects of climate change. We used the cognitive linguistic framework of experientialism to shed new light on this valuable pool of studies to identify the conceptual resources of understanding…

This paper focuses on an inferential view on introducing new concepts in mathematics classrooms. A theoretical framework is presented which helps to analyse and reflect on the processes of teaching and learning mathematical concepts. The framework is based on the philosophies by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Robert Brandom. Wittgenstein's language-game…