The authors examined the relation between children's narrative ability, which has been identified as an important contributor to memory development, and suggestibility. Across 2 studies, a total of 112 preschool-aged children witnessed a staged event and were subsequently questioned suggestively. Results from Study 1 indicated that children's…

Considered are two commonly used techniques, the interview and word association techniques. Highlighted is a third technique called the repertory grid. This third technique can be used to interpret students' knowledge based on an explicit, psychological theory of human behavior. (Author/CW)

The results of a study of the meiosis models utilized by individuals at varying levels of expertise while reasoning about the process of meiosis are presented. Based on these results, the issues of sources of misconceptions/difficulties and the construction of a sound understanding of meiosis are discussed. Five individuals from each of three…

Combined free response questionnaire and interview procedure are used to probe students' ideas regarding how they believe they see both luminous and nonluminous objects and how they think they hear source of sound. From large sample of students studied (n=1901), prevalence of ideas in different age groups is compared, and progression can be seen.…

Interview data exemplify students' attempts to integrate the concepts of electrochemistry with related knowledge that they had previously constructed or acquired in other classes. The implications for minimizing potential misconceptions center on the difficulties students experience when using more than one model for explaining scientific…

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…

Naturalistic data-collecting strategies (interviews with 20 eighth graders) were used to identify and characterize students' understandings about the concept of burning. The analysis showed that students' understandings were fragmented, inconsistent, and at variance with scientific knowledge. (Author)

An investigation of students understandings of acids and bases using concept maps, multiple-choice tests, and clinical interviews is described. The methodology and resulting analysis are illustrated with two abbreviated case studies selected from the study. Discussion of concept mapping points to how it starkly represents gaps in the understanding…

Identifies the unsophisticated assumptions and conjectures, both intuitive and empirical in character, underlying secondary school science students' (n=25) portrayal of scientific knowledge and its production. Structured interview protocols explored not only the students' substantive knowledge base but, perhaps more important, their ability to…

This study investigates how students participating in the same curriculum construct understanding in elementary thermodynamics during a semester-long eighth-grade physical science class. Two questions were addressed: (1) How does the learners' understanding change during the study of elementary thermodynamics? and (2) What role do students'…

Reports results of procedures directed at isolating and identifying students' difficulties in comprehending the concepts involved in lessons about gas exchange and respiration. Indicates that pupils (n=137) had deficient understanding of prerequisite concepts and tended to operate at the concrete operational level, whereas the highly abstract…

Investigates the relevance and concomitant impact of sociocultural experiences upon the scientific literacy of 87 students, aged 13 to 16, concerning their comprehension and assimilation of scientific data involving solar eclipses. Results indicate that the students' nonscientific conceptions about solar eclipses, generated through sociocultural…

This paper describes the design and results of a study carried out with elementary pupils ages 8-9 years on the topic of sinking and floating, with the aim of checking the validity of a general scheme for classroom activities based on a constructivist perspective. Children's "ways of looking" at buoyancy and the production of materials…

The Water and Molecular Networks (WAMNet) Project uses graduate student written Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) computer simulations of the molecular structure of water to assist high school students learn about the nature of water. This study examined: (1) preconceptions concerning the molecular structure of water common among high…