Nearly 100 students were given a Pre-Test in psychology on the first day of class without warning in order to assess their knowledge of basic course content derived from the prerequisites of the course (PSYC-100 Introduction to Psychology or PSYC-220 Child Development) and other life experiences. This was intended as a low-stakes testing…

Questionnaire results indicate that, although first-year, undergraduate science students (n=109) recognize the correct sources of energy for organisms, they simultaneously hold misconceptions about other essential, but nonenergy-supplying, conditions as sources of energy supply. Occurrence rates for these misconceptions vary with the students'…

Suggests that the teaching/learning/research process should be rethought of as a collaborative social learning for constructivism to be meaningful in science education. Includes perspectives on George Kelly's personal construct psychology and Glaserfeld's radical constructivism. (AIM)

Discusses the frequent misconception displayed by students that chromosome structure is a function of chromosome number or ploidy. Provides detailed analyses of the evidence concerning the prevalence of this ploidy/structure misconception among students of introductory genetics and the potential sources for inaccurate communication that it can…

Challenges the widely endorsed practice of activating relevant knowledge prior to reading. Outlines a perspectival (perspective-relative) view of reading and suggests that this view provides a means to make coherent sense of interpretations. Concludes that having specific knowledge is not the main desideratum in interpreting texts--the main…

While research concerning feedback and cooperative learning is prevalent in educational literature, there has been little systematic research to support whether various types of feedback in cooperative learning situations can affect student performance. This study examines possible interactions among different types of computer-delivered feedback…

This study examined the cognitive development of students enrolled in three levels of freshman chemistry courses and focused on changes in spatial ability over time. Results indicate that performance on general Piagetian-type tasks, including spatial visualization, can be refined through educational intervention. Concludes that students appear…

This study examined the instructional effectiveness with which different job aid types facilitated learner achievement of different types of learning objectives and identified the degree to which low and high prior knowledge individuals profit from different job aid types. The instructional content used in the study was an instructional module on…