Concept map activities often lack a subsequent revision step that facilitates knowledge integration. This study compares two collaborative critique activities using a Knowledge Integration Map (KIM), a form of concept map. Four classes of high school biology students (n?=?81) using an online inquiry-based learning unit on evolution were assigned…

This quantitative, quasi-experimental pretest/posttest control group design examined the effects of online collaborative learning on middle school students' science literacy. For a 9-week period, students in the control group participated in collaborative face-to-face activities whereas students in the experimental group participated in online…

Pupils' expectation-related errors oppose the development of an appropriate scientific attitude towards empirical evidence and the learning of accepted science content, representing a hitherto neglected area of research in science education. In spite of these apparent drawbacks, a pedagogy is described that "encourages" pupils to allow their…

This study questions the effectiveness of a traditional teaching-by-example technique when used with students who hold misconceptions. Interview techniques were used to explore students' (n=21) responses to two different uses of examples and to provide indications of student reasoning. Results indicate that when students hold a misconception,…

When comparing performances across four versions of Computer as Lab Partner curriculum, increases in understanding were found when students predicted outcomes and reconciled results, and students used a heat-flow model of thermodynamics to integrate their experimental results. Argued is that curriculum must explicitly motivate students to…