Background: This study focuses on probing preservice technology teachers' cognitive structures and how they construct engineering design in technology-learning activities and explores the effects of infusing an engineering design process into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project-based learning to develop preservice…

This paper addresses a problem that greatly complicates the implementation of dialogic educational approaches in schools: the dilemma between driving children's talk towards normatively accepted conceptions and, at the same time, avoiding the introduction of these normative conceptions into the dialogue by the teacher. I argue that this dilemma is…

Conceptual change theories assume that knowledge structures grow during the learning process but also get reorganized. Yet, this reorganization process itself is hard to examine. By using concept maps, we examined the changes in students' knowledge structures and linked it to conceptual change theory. In a longitudinal study, thirty high-achieving…

Executive function (EF) skills are cognitive processes that include goal setting, organizing, prioritizing, flexibly shifting attention, accessing working memory, and self-monitoring behavior and progress (Meltzer, 2018). These skills are integral in promoting students' ability to self-regulate their learning, solve problems, and work…

When students build physical models from prefabricated components to learn about model systems, there is an implicit trade-off between the physical degrees of freedom in building the model and the intensity of instructor supervision needed. Models that are too flexible, permitting multiple possible constructions require greater supervision to…

At present, quality earth science education in grade school is rare, increasing the importance of post-secondary courses. Observations of post-secondary geoscience indicate students often maintain errant ideas about the earth, even after direct instruction. This qualitative case study documents model-building activities of students as they…

Children are active learners: they learn not only from the information people offer and the evidence they happen to observe, but by actively seeking information. However, children's information search strategies are typically less efficient than those of adults. In two studies, we isolate potential sources of developmental change in how children…

Genetics instruction in introductory biology is often confined to Mendelian genetics and avoids the complexities of variation in quantitative traits. Given the driving question "What determines variation in phenotype (Pv)? (Pv=Genotypic variation Gv + environmental variation Ev)," we developed a 4-wk unit for an inquiry-based laboratory…

Problem Statement: Student teachers' beliefs and conceptions affect not only what and how they learn in teacher education programs, but also their future professional development in their teaching careers. Examining and understanding student teachers' beliefs and conceptions is therefore crucial to improving their professional preparation and…

Children personally construct explanations of natural phenomena, some of which differ from currently accepted scientific explanations. The replacement of personal explanations with scientific explanations, as well as the development of concrete, formal, and post-formal reasoning patterns, requires self-regulation in which alternative explanations…

Research in science education demonstrates the importance and effectiveness of the hands-on approach in student learning. Activity- oriented instruction offers multi-modal opportunities for learning science. However, there is very little research on the sensory nature of hands-on science learning. How do science educators describe lab activities…

Discusses a methods kit for interactive problem-solving exercises in engineering education as well as a methodology for intelligent evaluation of solutions. The quality of a system teaching logistics thinking can be improved using artificial intelligence. Embedding a rule-based diagnosis module that evaluates the student's knowledge actively…

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2017), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.). Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the…

This paper describes research into the use of cognitive tools in the classroom using "Exploring the Nardoo", an information landscape designed to support student investigation. Simulations and support tools which allow multimedia reporting are embedded in the package and are supported by several metacognitive tools for the writing…