This research aimed to investigate the nature of cognitive processes when college students reason about evidence on global climate change (GCC). Twenty-six undergraduate students participated in this qualitative study, where they were interviewed to evaluate competing arguments on key issues related to GCC and discuss their own perspectives.…

As more concerns have been raised about withholding answers during science teaching, this article argues for a need to detach 'withholding answers' from 'hands-on' investigation tasks. The present study examined students' learning of light-related content through three conditions: 'hands-on' + no 'withholding' (hands-on only: HO), 'hands-on' +…

Previous research from in and outside museums suggests that the haptic exploration of surfaces and objects have various educational benefits and can positively influence the museum visit experience. However, there is still a need for more research on the potential effects of object handling on museum learning, especially in science museums. The…

When learning with abstract and scientific multiple external representations (MERs), low prior knowledge learners are said to have difficulties in using these MERs to achieve conceptual understanding. Yet little is known about what these limitations precisely entail. In order to understand this, we presented 101 learners with low prior knowledge…

Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify models underlying drawings of the greenhouse effect made by over 200 entering university freshmen. Initial content analysis allowed deconstruction of drawings into salient features, with grouping of these features via factor analysis. A resulting 4-factor solution explains 62% of the data variance,…

Comics are popular with adolescents because of their features of humor, narrative, and visual imagery. The purposes of this study were to examine the learning outcomes and emotional perceptions of reading a science comic book and a science text booklet for students of different levels of achievement, and to explore the main factors of the two…

The present study contributes to the constructivist research programme (RP) into learning science by comparing patterns in responses from two groups of learners--senior high school students and pre-service teachers--in the same educational context (Singapore), to a diagnostic instrument relating to the topic of ionisation energies. This topic is…

Inquiry learning environments increasingly incorporate modelling facilities for students to articulate their research hypotheses and (acquired) domain knowledge. This study compared performance success and scientific reasoning of university students with high prior knowledge (n = 11), students from senior high-school (n = 10), and junior…

This paper deals with the features and design of explanations in public physics lectures. It presents the findings from a comparative study of three exemplary public physics lectures, given by practicing physicists who are acknowledged as excellent public lecturers. The study uses three different perspectives: the lecture, the lecturer, and the…