A variety of practices and specialised representational systems are required to understand, communicate and construct molecular genetics knowledge. This study describes teachers' use of multimodal representations of molecular genetics concepts and how their strategies and choice of resources were interpreted, understood and used by students to…

The impact of touch-screen technology on spatial cognitive skills as related to molecular geometries was assessed through 102 one-on-one interviews with undergraduate students. Participants were provided with either printed 2D ball-and-stick images of molecules or manipulable projections of 3D molecular structures on an iPad. Following a brief…

Describes the development of a coding scheme that represents students' ideas and its application to the analysis of interviews with urban students (n=8). Results indicate that decomposition is a linchpin concept for building an understanding of nutrient cycling, and ideas which relate to children's natural framework theories provide a generative…

Reports a study that tracks the changes in children's ideas about science and scientific concepts through the use of interviews and questionnaires. Students respond to seven questions about science learning, scientists, and their future relationship to science. (DDR)

Investigates the effectiveness of two different types of interviews: one that embeds a concept map, and one that does not embed a concept map in order to elicit post-instructional understandings. Focuses on students' understandings of chlorofluorocarbons and their role in global atmospheric change. Contains 71 references. (DDR)

Reviews research on children's ideas about floating and sinking. Describes the Model-Assisted Reasoning in Science (MARS) project curriculum and student responses to a question about helium balloons. Contains 61 references. (DDR)

Argues that inventions are of the utmost importance in knowledge development, and that conventions play an important role in inventions by providing support for their development. This position borrows from Piaget's perspective regarding figurative and operative aspects of thought. Contains 22 references. (DDR)

Multidimensional knowledge structures, described from a constructivist perspective and aligned with the "Mind as Rhizome" metaphor, provide support for constructivist learning strategies. This qualitative study was conducted to seek empirical support for a description of multidimensional knowledge structures, focusing on the…

Pedagogical content knowledge, the content-specific knowledge which embodies the aspects of content most germane to its teachability and which is most likely to distinguish the understanding of the content specialist from the pedagogue, has been widely regarded as important for effective teaching of complex subject matter such as science. This…