Vaccines are an important and societally relevant biology topic, but it is unclear how much college biology students know about how vaccines work and what inaccurate ideas they have about that process. Therefore, we asked more than 600 college students taking biology courses at various levels to explain, "How does a vaccine work?" in a…

Understanding natural selection requires mentally linking various key concepts and processes. Many students find it difficult to construct scientific explanations about natural selection and might display misconceptions. Our study aimed to investigate the understanding of natural selection and the existence of teleological or other misconceptions…

This study investigated how visual attention differed between students who hold scientific knowledge and those who have misconceptions. We analyzed visual fixations of 98 middle students on problems containing information relevant to scientific knowledge and common misconceptions. It showed that students who acquired scientific concepts paid more…

Background: The microbiology should be a part of curricula; especially after epidemic COVID-19. Purpose: The study reports the level of knowledge and opinions of Slovenian citizens about microorganisms. Sample: The target population of the online survey was Slovenian citizens older than 14 years. Design and methods: We collected 405 complete…

This article investigates the level of anatomical knowledge of the Hong Kong public and uses the data to help suggest public engagement activities and health campaigns to raise health literacy in the general population. In the annual public engagement event organized by the University of Hong Kong, 250 attendees took a survey assessing basic…

As students pursue undergraduate degrees, many are challenged with paying for college. Costs include direct charges for tuition, fees, books, room and board, and meal plans, as well as indirect costs such as transportation, utilities, insurance, cell phone, internet, and more. Many students borrow loans to cover these costs, but their…

Throughout the years, scientific research has increasingly aimed to identify students' misconceptions and alternative views regarding fundamental concepts and principles of chemistry. Valuable international bibliographic information was created, including details on teaching density and gaining respondent acceptance. The study aimed to explore…

Rainfall is a key process in the water cycle, the most structured scientific knowledge about water movement on Earth. Nevertheless, despite being a common topic covered in school science, it entails several cognitive difficulties for young children. This study uses a pictorial task and semi-opened questions to examine primary (11/12 years old) and…

This study examined children's understanding of irony when a difference existed between a speaker's intended meaning and a listener's interpretation of the meaning. Three irony contexts were presented to 87 7/8-year-olds (second graders), 90 11/12-year-olds (sixth graders), and 103 adults. In the normal irony context, the speaker intended to…

The convenience sample used in the study reported on here consisted of 91 students enrolled in the primary and middle school Postgraduate Certificate in Education course for 2 consecutive years at a South African university. We used the Student Understanding of Science and Science Inquiry instrument to answer questions about these students'…

This study is empirical research about alternative ideas on the concept of force for five different age groups, primary school students (11), middle school students (15), high school students (17), students of the Department of Primary Education (21), and active teachers in primary education (27-50). We used the same questionnaire for all groups,…

Plant nutrition is a complex subject at any educational level therefore, identification of student's ideas regarding this scientific concept is important in order to define the best instructional learning method. In this study, we conduct a cross-age comparison of the conceptual understanding of compulsory students and prospective elementary…

Although Ghana's comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) program has been lauded, no study has examined its association with the sexual health outcomes of Ghanaian youth. Using data collected from 2,982 in-school youth (male = 1,820 and female = 1,162) aged 15 to 17 years in three administrative regions of the country, we applied discrete-time…

A major goal of schools is to provide students with knowledge and skills applicable (Csapó, 1998). However, teachers have to deal with the misconceptions of their students described as ideas based on experience leading to faulty understanding or naïve ideas (Martin et al., 2002). Schools are of primary importance in transmitting health-related…

Background: Parent-aimed guidance on the topic of processed foods may help limit highly processed foods in children's diets, but little is known about parent understanding and perceptions of these products. Aims: To determine how parent perceptions of processing align with processing classification systems used in research, and to identify…