Abstract electronics concepts are difficult to develop because the phenomena of interest cannot be readily observed. Visualisation skills support learning about electronics and can be applied at different levels of representation and understanding (observable, symbolic and abstract). Providing learners with opportunities to make transitions…

The aim of this research is identify the effectiveness of a multiple representation-based learning model, which builds a mental model within the concept of atomic structure. The research sample of 108 students in 3 classes is obtained randomly from among students of Mathematics and Science Education Studies using a stratified random sampling…

This article notes the convergence of recent thinking in neuroscience and grounded cognition regarding the way we understand mental representation and recollection: ideas are dynamic and multi-modal, actively created at the point of recall. Also, neurophysiologically, re-entrant signalling among cortical circuits allows non-conscious processing to…

The central goal of this study was to examine the extent to which a teaching approach focused on the interaction between macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic levels of chemistry representations could affect high school students' performance in the field of inorganic reactions, as well as to examine how the applied instruction influences…

Analyzes textbooks on thermodynamics with the aim of showing that several mental representations of this subject matter are present in scientific literature. Outlines divergent attitudes towards the definition of fundamental concepts and also towards the epistemological status of thermodynamics. Highlights the importance of historical…

A study of students' understandings of the nature of science makes science itself the focus of inquiry. This book is an account of a research project undertaken to elicit and to describe the range and nature of school students' understandings of the nature of science. The features of students' representations which are focused on include their…

This study investigated fourth graders' (N=18) self-generated analogies and the effects of their collaborative reasoning and arguing over these analogies on individual understanding of three scientific phenomena concerning air pressure. The data were subjected to both a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The first showed that the children, on…

Explores the interaction between scientific epistemological beliefs and learning orientations in a group of Taiwanese eighth-grade students. Suggests the importance of employing a constructivist philosophy in the classroom. Contains 55 references. (DDR)