Previous research shows that the direction of rating scales can influence participants' response behavior. Studies also suggest that the device used to complete online surveys might affect the susceptibility to these effects due to the different question layouts (e.g., horizontal grids vs. vertical individual questions). This article contributes…

This paper describes an experience based on the use of an active method in which students of a basic physics course prepare multiple choice questions (MCQs) to prepare for exams in the subject. The objective of the research was to provide the students with a method that would enhance their desire to learn physics, and consequently lead to an…

The present research compared the knowledge of primary school children and pre-service primary teachers about various native mammals of the Iberian Peninsula (IP-Portugal and Spain) and the African Savannah. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 420 children and 215 pre-service teachers from these countries asking for the…

The primary objective of this paper is to find out whether the genetic concepts conveyed by cinema could encourage students' personal misconceptions in this area. To that end, two sources of conceptions were compared: the students' personal concepts (from a consolidated bibliography and from an experimental sample) and the concepts conveyed by…

We study the misconceptions about colour that most people hold, determining the general phenomenological laws that govern them. Concept mapping was used to combat the misconceptions which were found in the application of a test specifically designed to determine these misconceptions, while avoiding the possible misleading inductions that could…