Mathematics and science are important for success in school, but learning mathematics and science can be a difficult task to some students. Efforts to improve students' learning of school mathematics and science have led to reform efforts in curriculum and instruction over the past decades (e.g., National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM],…

This ERIC Digest concerns the constructed knowledge (also called nave knowledge or prior conceptions) held by students and the changes required to alter students' framework to understand and believe the true science concepts involved. This process is called conceptual change. Theoretical framework of conceptual change, what exactly is conceptual…

Investigations of changes of conceptions during physics instruction are the logical and necessary next step to follow the successful international research on students' pre-instructional conceptions. This paper reviews theoretical issues, selected content-specific results, and general hypotheses. It is oriented towards explicit cognitive…

Despite its failings, Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" is valuable for emphasizing cognition as significantly affecting human performance and social achievement; acknowledging human differences; and offering a frightening depiction of contemporary American society. The authors err in reducing intelligence to a stable, immutable…

Presents some of the misconceptions school-age children have about issues related to global warming/global climatic change. Discusses strategies for mitigation. (Author/CCM)

Focuses on constructivism and lists some of the procedures that teachers use to illustrate the constructivist learning model. Describes characteristics of a classroom that is using the constructivist model. First published in 1991. (YDS)

Debunks the "myth of the first three years"--notions about synaptic density changes, critical periods, and "enriched" or complex environments in early brain development. Neuroscientists say synaptic densities vary over the life span. There is no linear connection between number of synapses in the brain and brainpower or intelligence. (Contains 44…

The testing of a formal causal model of thinking about motion is described using a matching-pairs paper-and-pencil task. Subjects were asked to distinguish between examples of stereotypical motions by the similarity or difference of causes of pairs of motions. The results suggest that responses can be predicted by the model with the addition of an…

Presented is a criticism of Lawson's (1988) article on the development of misconceptions of biological concepts. Lawson's response to this criticism follows. (CW)

Discusses misconceptions about constructivism by identifying related myths such as students should always be actively and reflectively constructing, manipulatives make learners active, and cooperative learning is constructivist. One central goal of constructivism should be that students become autonomous and self-motivated in their learning.…

Discusses geometrical reasoning in the framework of the theory of Figural Concepts to highlight the interaction between the figural and conceptual components of geometrical concepts. Examples of students' difficulties and errors in geometrical reasoning are interpreted according to the internal tension that appears in figural concepts resulting…

This paper addresses two distinctive issues concerning animistic and anthropomorphic thought in the context of constructivist science education. The first concerns the extent of such ways of thinking, both within science itself and within school science. The second concerns the implications of this for theories of instruction in science education.…

In this study, the attitudes of Israeli children aged 6 to 15 years were surveyed regarding their conceptions of plants as living things. It was desired to find out whether children consider plants to be alive, the knowledge differences between the different age groups in the study, how children classify plants according to biological criteria and…

The theme of the material contained in this annotated resource list is the relationship between teaching and learning mathematics in the specific content area of graphing functions. The list contains 30 articles, papers, and unpublished manuscripts written from 1979 through 1989. The articles treat various aspects of concept formation,…

Models the ideas of children's misconceptions and subsequent acceptance of conventional scientific thought on the simple cusp of catastrophe theory. Demonstrates one theory of the forces which are necessary to change a misconception to a scientific concept. (CW)