A 47-item structured Q-sort methodology was used to identify and analyze the frameworks held by experienced emergency response personnel. The questionnaire was designed to determine the following: the characteristics/behaviors considered important by people within specific fields of emergency response; differences between individuals within a…

This conceptual framework is grounded in the data analysis of transcribed interviews with 50 Ontario teachers and the text of a 7-month online discussion group among 25 principals from England, Ireland, Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Both methods were employed with the stated purpose of understanding emotional experiences of…

While most counselor training programs highlight basic counseling skills, few programs address the development of counselors' conceptual abilities. This study explores the changes in conceptualizations of counseling and the corresponding changes in the counseling skills of prepracticum counseling trainees. Six graduate students in a counselor…

This study explored the usefulness of an approach to science instruction which specifically considered children's spontaneous conceptions about natural phenomena. The aim of the instruction was the development of conceptual understanding. The instructional approach involved diagnosing children's spontaneous conceptions, making them aware of their…

The substantial interest exhibited in the last decade in the identification of students' misconceptions of a wide range of scientific concepts has not extended to identification of students' misconceptions of the nature of science itself. This study examined the attitudes of 32 secondary school students, each from Canada, the United States, and…

By the age of 4, children typically have separate schema for relating events in the physical world and for relating events to associated mental states. Generally, these schema cannot be coordinated until around 6 years of age, when the ability to use them together yields a structure for assigning intentionality. This intentional structure develops…

One hundred and forty students in grades 6 and 7 were asked to process 32 science statements. Half of the statements were consistent with their prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with it. Half of the students were instructed to read the sentences for understanding (reading controls). The remaining students were…