This article is concerned with "commonsense science knowledge", the informally gained knowledge of the natural world that students possess prior to formal instruction in a scientific discipline. Although commonsense science has been the focus of substantial study for more than two decades, there are still profound disagreements about its nature…

Teacher knowledge--indeed teachers themselves--is always unfinished and incomplete. Knowledge never exists outside of a context of use. The shift to seeing teaching as site of cultural production invites the question, What structures of human relationship will scientists and science educators construct in and through the work they perform? The…

Traces the development of an open-ended instrument, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS), and outlines the nature of science framework that underlies the development of the VNOS. (Contains 63 references.) (DDR)

Argues that a teacher's practice reflects changing experiences, knowledge, values, and identities, and as such can be productively thought of as a site for learning as well as a site for expounding upon what is known. Suggests a vision for what constitutes effective practice different from that commonly held in science. Contains 33 references.…

Presents three studies that demonstrate the efficiency of the kinesthetic conflict in promoting the understanding of three scientific concepts among children aged 5-12. Results support Piaget's theory which determines the origins of scientific thinking. Contains 26 references. (DDR)

In the literature, learners' cognitive development is mainly discussed with respect to changes in learners' content-dependent knowledge (conceptual change or growth). Additional dimensions of time and complexity may also be taken into account to describe cognitive processes in at least three dimensions. We discuss these three dimensions of…

Scientific and everyday knowledge domains are compared so as to reveal the distinctive differences between their goals and the cognitive processes used to attain them. The main goals, working goals, learning difficulties, knowledge structure, concept specification, knowledge organization, role of school science, program-solving instruction, formal…

Examined are two aspects of science education--the nature of science and curriculum reform. Contemporary views on the tentative nature of science and a generative model of learning are synthesized. (KR)