This study aims to investigate the potential correlation between pseudoscientific beliefs and media literacy among pre-service teachers. In this study, a survey method was conducted. The research group consists of 332 pre-service teachers from a state university. Data were collected using two Likert scales, one on media literacy and the other on…

The present study explores how in-service secondary education Greek biology teachers understand aspects of the concept of ecosystem under the assumption that the ecosystem is an ill-defined concept. If it is to be considered a holistic entity, the ecosystem acquires its definitional features within the ecological field of systems ecology, which…

This paper describes the results from a qualitative study of 72 preservice teachers' initial ideas about contextualizing science instruction with language minority students. Participants drew primarily on local ecological and multicultural contexts as resources for contextualizing instruction. However, preservice teachers enrolled in the bilingual…

As biotechnology-related scientific advances, such as stem cell research (SCR), are increasingly permeating the popular media, it has become ever more important to understand students' ideas about this issue. Very few studies have investigated learners' ideas about biotechnology. Our study was designed to understand the types of alternative…

Two questionnaires were given to 38 students (16-18 year olds), in which they were asked to classify a list of different conceptual entities by several ontological features. The results suggest the form of a fundamental "ontological space" and locate some scientific concepts in this space. (Author)

Findings from a study of 10 German students aged 15-19, using problem-centred interviews, suggest that many students hold an 'everyday' conception of genes as small, trait-bearing, particles. Analysis of this notion identified a number of ways in which such a view might restrict the ability of students to develop an understanding of the scientific…

The consistency, if any, with which force concepts are used by individual students in different, but closely related, contexts was investigated. A total of 534 university and high school students were tested to elicit their beliefs about the forces acting on various objects. Students' beliefs about the forces acting on objects at rest and in…

Discusses the rationality of students' alternative frameworks by considering the role played by their beliefs, their understanding of other views, and the reasons for justification or rejection. Investigates the way in which 14-year-old boys see the effects of classroom learning experience on their ideas. (Author/YP)