In the process of problem solving, intuitive thinking leads to findings that go beyond gaps and plays a decisive role in problem solving. Considering that problems often need to be solved in groups rather than by individuals, it is necessary to examine how intuitive thinking expressed by individuals is shared and elaborated among peers in a group…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Mathematics Infusion into Science Project (MiSP), which integrated science and mathematics in an engaging middle school science curriculum that fostered improvements in science content knowledge, higher-level problem solving, and affective domains related to mathematics. The project design was based…

The students' performance in various types of problems dealing with the conservation of matter during chemical reactions has been investigated at different levels of schooling. The participants were 499 ninth grade (ages 14, 15 years) and 624 eleventh grade (ages 16, 17 years) Greek students. Data was collected using a written questionnaire…

The study we present tries to explore how first year engineering students formulate hypotheses in order to construct their own problem solving structure when confronted with problems in physics. Under the constructivistic perspective of the teaching-learning process, the formulation of hypotheses plays a key role in contrasting the coherence of…

We report on an investigation of students' ideas about gravity after a semester of instruction in physics at university. There are two aspects to the study which was concerned with students' answers to a carefully designed qualitative examination question on gravity. The first aspect is a classification of the answers and a comparative study of…

Investigates whether and how peer collaboration facilitated students' problem solving in physics. Finds that students' success was due to how they interacted and whether and how they invoked the relevant physics principles. (Author/CCM)

Discusses an alternate path to teaching introductory stoichiometry based on research findings. The recommendation is to use problems that can be solved easily by rapid mental calculation as well as by pure logic. (AIM)

We report on a study of what happened when we recycled a conceptual examination question in a first-year university physics course. The question, which was used for three consecutive years, asked about an astronaut's experience of weighing in an orbiting space-craft. The original intention was to use a phenomenographic approach to look for…

The new 1?9 curriculum framework in Taiwan provides a remarkable change from previous frameworks in terms of the coverage of content and the powers of teachers. This study employs a modified repertory grid technique to investigate biology teachers' preferences with regard to six curriculum components. One hundred and eighty-five in-service and…

This book contains selected refereed papers from the 21st Annual Conference of the Australasian Science Education Research Association. The papers are as follows: "A Learning Model for Science Education: Developing Teaching Strategies" (Appleton); "Researching Balance between Cognition and Affect in Science Teaching" (Baird et…