This study first used a new approach, combining students' ontological beliefs and process explanations, to represent students' mental models of heat conduction and then examined the relationships between their mental models and their predictions. Clinical interviews were conducted to probe 30 undergraduate physics students' mental models and their…

Making assumptions is an important step in solving many real-world problems. This study investigated whether participants who could solve well-defined physics problems could also solve a real-world physics problem that involved the need to make assumptions. The participants, who all had at least a BA in physics, were videotaped "thinking aloud"…

This research examined the nature of parent-child conversations at an informal science education center housed in an active gravitational-wave observatory. Each of 20 parent-child dyads explored an interactive exhibit hall privately, without the distraction of other visitors. Parents employed a variety of strategies to support their children's…

An open-ended, written test was administered to 364 students divided into four groups according to their scientific learning background at a teachers college. Results indicate that although the science-major students performed better than nonscience majors, their understanding of condensation and boiling concepts still needed to be enhanced.…

Presents the epistemology of scientific concepts from a schematic modeling perspective. Discusses students' initial cognitive states based on the level of commensurability between students' own concepts and their scientific counterparts. Contains 87 references. (DDR)

It is recognized widely that learning is a dynamic and idiosyncratic process of construction and reconstruction of concepts in response to new experiences. It is influenced by the learner's prior knowledge, motivation, and sociocultural context. This study investigated how year 11 and 12 physics students' metacognition influences the development…

Describes a study in which teaching and learning activities are designed using a cognitive conflict strategy. Focuses on the effectiveness of these activities in classroom research in pre-university courses in Botswana and South Africa. Contains 39 references. (DDR)

Determined if there are certain propositions that physics students (N=31) share with respect to a topic, to what extent is a student's knowledge on a subject idiosyncratic, and if there are different groups of students whose members share distinctive sets of propositions. Results are reported and discussed. (DH)