Describes a study in which secondary students (N=32) were interviewed to determine their understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge. Presents some of the strengths and weaknesses of these views and provides cross-cultural comparisons. (DDR)

Reports on a case study that is part of a larger study taking place in Trinidad, West Indies. Focuses on one subject and how a person makes use of conventional science and traditional knowledge in everyday life. Contains 29 references. (DDR)

Argues that scientific knowledge in school is a social construct in which curriculum proposals are simply points of departure that are transformed by the social interaction that takes place within the classroom. Considers discourse as playing an important role in knowledge construction. Contains 31 references. (DDR)

Explores whether exposure to increasingly sophisticated mental models at different points in a chemistry education class showed up in patterns of preference and use of models in interpreting physical properties and phenomena. (Contains 92 references.) (DDR)

Identifies certain conceptions regarding the science content studied by students aged 9-11 years and develops a strategy for altering these conceptions. Reviews research on misconceptions and defines action research. (DDR)

Details a study of students' text usage that used observations and interviews. Concludes that retrieval strategies are not transferred to learning from texts during science lessons. (Contains 41 references.) (DDR)

Provides a progression of terms of underlying concepts related to moving and falling objects, and links these concepts to activities that are appropriate for various age ranges. Speculates on the role of teacher knowledge in effective science teaching. (DDR)

Illustrates the construction of conceptual models on pressure and flotation using high school students' previous ideas on these concepts. Identifies three models and uses them to analyze students' ideas about physical phenomena and to recognize the inferential structure they use. Contains 28 references. (DDR)

This study of physics problem-solving identifies reasoning mechanisms that enable the problem-solver to achieve the transformation to a physics structure of the problem situation. Elaboration is explored as a mechanism in fulfilling this transformation by providing beginning problem-solvers with elaborations that they failed to infer. A card…