Elementary school children were interviewed about how gears move on a gearboard and how they work in commonplace machines. Children's reasoning became more general, formal, and mathematical as problem complexity increased, suggesting that mathematical forms of reason may develop when they provide a clear advantage over simple causal…

Describes a study of a range of challenging activities centered on evaporation and condensation done with elementary school children. Analyzes children's explanations in light of the existing literature. Finds that older children display a surer sense of ontological categories, greater epistemological sophistication, greater precision in language…

Describes children's conceptions of the structure and function of the human digestive system based on an investigation carried out with children aged 4-10 (n=45). Finds that children possess biological knowledge as an independent knowledge domain from the age of four. Discusses acquisition of and barriers to scientific concepts related to human…

This study focused on misconceptions related to light and vision. Researchers administered diagnostic tests about light, vision, and color before and after instruction to 227 fifth-grade students over a 2-year period. They also conducted 11 clinical interviews. The tests and interviews revealed that almost all students shared certain…

Analysis of data on children's ideas about seeing and light is reported. Analysis is theoretically informed by Piagetian stage theory of genetic epistemology. Data produced by other researchers have been recoded to enable quantitative comparisons to be made with the survey data reported by Shayer and Adey (1981). Patterns in the data exposed by…

The results of a study conducted with elementary school students in Tanzania are presented. A number of alternative conceptions were revealed. The role of sociocultural beliefs in forming these conceptions is described, and the implications of these findings for science teaching and teacher education are discussed. (Author/CW)

Describes the development and use of two computer simulations for investigating systems thinking and environmental problem-solving in children (n=92). Finds that older children outperformed younger children, who tended to exhibit magical thinking. Suggests that seemingly isomorphic environmental problems may not be interpreted as such by children.…

Traces change in conception of gravity in a boy from kindergarten until second grade, focusing on the process by which persons restructure ideas that differ from accepted scientific understandings, and acquire scientific ideas. Provides criteria for defining an alternative conception; suggests how conditions in the initial interview may have…

Examined is the situation in which pupils invent mathematics on their own and teachers' reactions to this situation. The assimilation of students' original ideas into correct mathematical concepts is discussed. (CW)

Discussed are preservice elementary teachers' misconceptions and inconsistent beliefs about multiplication and division with decimals. Sources of inconsistencies and recommendations for overcoming inconsistencies are included. (KR)

The question of how children solve force and motion problems in computer simulations without explicit knowledge of the underlying physics was investigated. Keystroke sequences made by children were saved and analyzed, and children were interviewed to understand their perception of the relationship between keyboard input and on-screen action. (CW)

Presents teaching methods to rectify the tendency of students and even teachers to divide the smaller number into the larger in problem situations requiring division, while recognizing the impossibility of the answer in the situation. (MDH)

Conceptual change teaching is an instructional method that helps students modify, extend, or exchange their alternative conceptions for the appropriate scientific conceptions. Provides activities and a diagnostic test to apply the method to the concepts of heat and temperature. (MDH)

Fifty-three elementary school children were tested on Incidental Science Knowledge, i.e., knowledge acquired by chance outside school, and the results obtained were correlated with intellectual development and cognitive style as measured by interviews and group testing, respectively. Indicates that cognitive style and misconception play a…

This document reports the results of a cross-cultural study on children's knowledge about the shape, gravity, movement, and location of the Earth and about the day/night cycle. The subjects of the study were elementary school students from Greece (N=90) and the United States (N=60). The results of the study showed that the children in both samples…