This article examines final-year teacher trainees' conceptualisation of inclusive education through the employment of a questionnaire and the analysis of eighty career entry development profiles. Three main research questions are addressed. How do trainees define inclusive education? What factors do they believe are inherent in its success? Do…

This study describes 5th, 8th, and 11th-grade students', teachers', and medical professionals' conceptions of flu and microbial illness. Participants constructed a concept map on "flu" and participated in a semi-structured interview. The results showed that these groups of students, teachers and medical professionals held and structured their…

When interviewed, 105 third-grade students indicated that they did not view retardation as a set of behaviors, but as a trait, defined abstractly and perceived to be both predetermined and largely irreversible through personal effort. Children did not assume that being retarded excluded being pretty, athletic, or smart. (Author/JDD)

Concepts used by two classes of grade eight students, one advanced and the other average, to explain the changes that occur when water is heated to boiling are presented. Little difference was found between groups in terms of the personal misconceptions used to explain boiling. The changes that take place in conceptual knowledge immediately after…

Recently, there has been a rapid proliferation of lesson study groups in the United States. Since deep knowledge about lesson study is rare in the U.S., it is likely that some of these groups have an incomplete understanding of this Japanese practice. Some may focus on structural aspects of the process of lesson study or may mimic its superficial…

In this study, the Turkish students' understanding level of electric circuits consisting of two bulbs and one battery was investigated by using open-ended questions. Two-hundred fifty students, whose ages range from 11 to 22, were chosen from five different groups at primary, secondary and university levels in Trabzon in Turkey. In analyzing…

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it was aimed to identify Turkish pre-service physics teachers' knowledge and understanding of the Moon, Moon phases, and other lunar phenomena. Second, the effects of model-based teaching on pre-service teachers' conceptions were examined. Conceptions were proposed as mental models in this study. Four…

This study examined university students' knowledge of and attitudes (n = 378) toward biotechnology in Slovakia, a conservative country where the distribution of genetically engineered products are banned by law. We found a significant positive correlation between attitudes and the level of knowledge; however, although students enrolled in biology…

"Primary Science Review's" original "Wobbly Bits" series of articles was born back in 1997, after a conversation about this problem at a meeting of the ASE Primary Committee. The conversation turned to primary science teachers' scientific learning journeys. Each one of them could recount a story where they had completely misunderstood an aspect of…

Autistic children were tested on three tasks that were within the capability of three-four-year-old normal children and that involved the abilities to understand a mistaken belief, infer contents of a container from looking or not looking inside, and adjust answers to provide new information. (PCB)

Certain misunderstandings in science, mathematics, and computer programing reflect analogous underlying difficulties. These misunderstandings are examined through four knowledge levels: (1) content; (2) problem-solving; (3) epistemic; and (4) inquiry. Analysis of several examples shows that misunderstandings have causes at multiple levels, and…

Involves 321 preservice elementary teacher education students in a study designed to investigate their intuitive scientific ideas and understandings. Results reveal that the majority of subjects, with the exception of a high proportion of those who has a successful high school background in physics and chemistry, have misunderstandings regarding…

The role of analogical mapping in the formation of conceptual misrepresentations was studied by analyzing target-domain inferences generated by 193 third graders learning from an analogy. Explicit knowledge of the instructional goal decreased the number of conflicting inferences. Implications for learning are discussed. (SLD)

Outlines problems students have with understanding the abstract concept of chemical bonding as revealed in previous research. Describes the development of a two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic instrument for assessing alternative conceptions about chemical bonding held by 14-16 year olds. Discusses the instrument and its findings for a group of…

Diagnosing cognitive errors possessed by examinees can be considered as a pattern classification problem that is designed to classify a sequential input of stimuli into one of several predetermined groups. The sequential inputs in this paper's context are item responses, and the predetermined groups are various states of knowledge resulting from…