Analogies can be powerful teaching tools because they can make new material intelligible to students by comparing it to material that is already familiar. In assisting students to understand chemistry concepts, teachers occasionally use analogies. These analogies are believed to help the students to structure the new knowledge and they are…

One of the complex units of chemistry education is acid-base equilibria, and learners have difficulty constructing cognitive structures on the subject. The aim of this study is to examine the conceptions of pre-service chemistry teachers with regard to weak acid-base equilibria using a diagnostic test. A qualitative research method was employed as…

Genetics can be a difficult topic to teach and learn in a traditional classroom. The objective of this qualitative classroom action research was to examine the effectiveness of a blend of problem-based learning (PBL) with scientific argumentation to improve student understanding of basic genetics. The research participants were grade 9 Bhutanese…

Grolnick and Ryan (1987) assume that an autonomy supportive environment leads to higher learner engagement and thus to greater achievements and deeper understanding of content. In school, knowledge acquisition (rote learning as well as conceptual learning) are regarded as most important. In this study, we examined the effects of teachers' autonomy…

This study investigated the contributions of students' reasoning ability and meaningful learning orientation to their understanding of the photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. Data were gathered through the use of the Test of Logical Thinking (Tobin & Capie, 1981), the Learning Approach Questionnaire (Cavallo, 1996), and the Two-Tier…

This study investigated the retention of meaningful understanding of the biological topics of meiosis, the Punnett square method and the relations between these two topics. This study also explored the predictive influence of students' general tendency to learn meaningfully or by rote (meaningful learning orientation), prior knowledge of meiosis,…