Presents a brief overview of historical and cross-cultural data that points to the universality of some main physics conceptions. Summarizes articles from the science education literature that emphasize the relevance and influence of a number of cultural factors, such as language, world view and traditional beliefs, reasoning patterns, and…

Presents a model to analyze conceptual evolution in the classroom, based on the notion of conceptual profile. Suggests that it is possible to use different ways of thinking in different domains, a new concept does not necessarily replace previous ideas, and learning science is to change a conceptual profile and become conscious of different zones…

Provides teachers with some ideas about the development of physical knowledge to make them more receptive to the differences between their own and their students' thinking. Illustrates an adapted version of Piaget's model of the growth of physical knowledge using the development of classical mechanics. Contains 12 references. (Author/JRH)

Reports on a study that constructs a Lakatosian teaching strategy that can facilitate conceptual change in students' understanding of chemical equilibrium. Results indicate that the experimental group performed better on tests. Contains 81 references. (DDR)

Establishes a relationship between students' understanding of gases and its parallels in the history of science. Finds that college freshman students' alternative conceptions about gas behavior are resistant to change and recapitulate theories scientists held in the past, such as the Lattice Theory of Gases. (Contains 52 references.) (Author/WRM)

Highlights students' ideas about the particle model of matter and its use. Discusses the atomic model in teaching and the rules of the particle modeling game. Demonstrates how a complete understanding of the rules of the model construction yields guidelines for didactic practice. Focuses on problems connected with visual communication through…

Reports on research designed to discover whether certain conceptual difficulties experienced by present day students in the realm of action at a distance are parallel to the experiences of scientists in previous generations. Contains 60 references. (DDR)

Reconstructs students' and teachers' understanding of the structure of the atom based on a framework characterized by considering the history of science as competing research programs and by believing that some great scientific research programs progress on inconsistent foundations. Contains 107 references. (DDR)

Addresses the need for organizing a science curriculum around contextual settings and science stories that serve to involve and motivate students. Outlines a proposed program of activities in terms of a sequence of theoretical and empirical activities that involve contextual settings, science stories, large context problems, thematic teaching, and…

Examines some of the misconceptions about the nature of critical thinking. Focuses on the characterization of critical thinking in terms of processes or skills and the separation of critical thinking and knowledge. Offers a different conception of critical thinking. (Contains 46 references.) (DDR)