Explores A level students' conceptions of some common chemical reactions. Findings indicate that students apply frameworks consistently across groups of events that they perceive to be similar. What was found to be lacking was the scientists' view of all the reactions being regarded as realizations of the same underlying conceptual model. Contains…

Junior level secondary students (n=500) in Botswana and Lesotho responded to a questionnaire to paint a picture of student perceptions of science and technology. The attitudes of the students toward the two subjects and the impact they have had on everyday life were congruent with the philosophical goals of the science and technology syllabuses of…

Analyzes conceptions of energy of physics students' in a pre-service teacher training program. Findings indicate that the students are considerably anthropocentric in their associations, their choice of pictures, and their alternative conceptions and hold a number of different, alternative conceptions when describing physical situations. Contains…

Investigates patterns of students' science thinking across four different science phenomena focusing on changes that come with age and science education. Asks secondary school students whether offered sentences appearing on a computer screen that gave different explanations for four common changes in materials made any sense to them. (Contains 20…

Investigates 53 11-year-old children's understanding of the concepts of force and energy using a modified interview-about-instances technique. Identifies three frameworks which appeared to guide the pupil's thinking, only one of which was consistent with the accepted scientific definitions. Reports sex differences related to the frameworks.…

Considers the process of conceptual change and describes empirical studies into children's naive theories of physics concepts. Uses the Representational Redescription model to explain how naive theories are a feature of conceptual change. Provides a starting point for considering how children's naive theories might mediate their ability to learn…

Analyzes senior high school students' astronomy conceptions by means of a written questionnaire presented during the beginning of the first semester. (Contains 42 references.) (Author/YDS)

This study investigates student misconceptions in the areas of continent, ocean, permanence of ocean basins, continental drift, Earth's magnetic field, and plates and plate motions. A teaching-learning model was designed based on a constructivist approach. Results show that students held a substantial number of misconceptions. (Author/DKM)

Reports on the procedure and results of the trial of support materials that were developed for primary teacher mentors to help trainee teachers improve their medium-term and individual lesson plans. Concludes that trainees' practice in science improved in subsequent unmentored lessons, but good practice was not transferred to other subjects.…

Explores the language used by teachers to denote various forces and investigates possible misconceptions they might hold about force and motion. Results indicate that biology and chemistry specialists hold the most misconceptions. Contains 17 references. (DDR)

The problem-solving difficulties of Nigerian preservice chemistry teachers (n=300) were investigated. The results from written tests and an interview show students were capable of constructing mental representations but not solution plans; had inappropriate approaches and strategies; exhibited structural errors relating to a disregard of given…

An alternative procedure to the draw-a-scientist test (DAST) was used to uncover students ideas about science, scientists, and technology. A series of illustrations (based on the interview-about-instances (IAI) procedure) concerned with appearance, gender, work place, and employment were developed. Through interviews, students (n=121) responded to…

Reported are compulsory education pupils' representations of electric current in a constructivist approach to introducing direct current (DC) circuits. Suggests that the pupils views can be modelled after an energy framework. Makes suggestions about the content, the apparatus and the experiments used in teaching DC circuits. (CW)

Presents a study to determine whether biology students in preservice training to become high school teachers hold correct scientific views that will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies which in turn will lead their future students to achieve a correct scientific concept of force. (Author/DKM)

Presents findings from a case study into the development of student understanding of chemical bonding. Reveals significant progression in student understanding but also highlights issues of how such progression should be addressed. Emphasizes factors associated with blocks to appropriate concept development. (33 references) (Author/MKR)