This article explores the legacy of Paul Pintrich in regard to theory and research in conceptual change. Specifically, this article reviews his vision for a view of conceptual change--a vision that integrated motivation and affect within a broader view of cognition in the classroom (Pintrich, 1999; Pintrich & Sinatra, 2003). This article describes…

The premise behind the cognitive approach to teaching is that understanding results when new learning is integrated with existing knowledge. But the goal of science instruction is to replace existing ideas with new theories. Current research in science education seeks to resolve these conflicting instructional approaches. (Author/VM)

The broad focus of this study was on the role students' existing conceptions play in the process of constructing and understanding mechanics concepts. The study was a naturalistic one, conducted over a number of years, at all grade levels, in one all-boys secondary school in Australia. In particular it was concerned with identifying and…

This ERIC Digest describes the parameters of misconception research as it relates to the learning of science and highlights some of its implications for the teaching of science in the elementary school. The document reviews terminology associated with misconception research, identifies common characteristics of misconceptions, and specifies…

Students of reasoning have long tried to understand how people revise systems of beliefs. This paper maintains that people often change their beliefs in ways driven by considerations of explanatory coherence. In this report, a computational model is described of how experimental subjects revise their naive beliefs about physical motion. First,…

Presents the results of an experiment that evaluated the efficiency of analogy in the conceptual restructuring of a science topic. The experiment involved a fifth-grade class studying water and heat flow. Discovered that analogy can act as an effective trigger for restructuring knowledge. (MJP)