In order to address HIV infection among college students, a comprehensive measure is needed that can be used with samples from culturally diverse populations. Therefore, this paper assessed the reliability and validity of an HIV/AIDS questionnaire that measures fours dimensions of HIV/AIDS awareness--factual knowledge, prejudice, personal risk,…

The candle burning experiment is usually conducted in lower secondary classes to prove the (about) 20% oxygen in air. The aim of this paper is to show that teachers misinterpret the results of the experiment to satisfy the objectives of teaching this experiment. However, when the results of this experiment are interpreted correctly, the objectives…

This study explored the effect of experiential and experience-based approaches to learning and instruction on transitional first grade students' (a) acquisition and use of economic concepts and (b) economic reasoning ability as indicated by the presence or absence of misconceptions about economic concepts. A pretest-posttest control group design…

Students' alternative conceptions arise out of an interconnected system of beliefs: about the nature of science, of learning, of the natural and social world. Cross-cultural perspectives on these world views are therefore essential. This study probed middle school students' conceptions about plants. Tribal students were found to have a richer and…

A questionnaire administered to 288 seventh- through tenth-grade students in 3 rural Oregon school districts revealed students' knowledge concerning the transmission and prevention of AIDS, student attitudes toward AIDS patients, and source of student knowledge; showed improvement over a previous survey of middle school students; and confirms the…

Responds to the article "Reconstructing Multicultural Education: a Response to Mike Cole" in which Cole defends his views of antiracist education and the role of cultural racism, the teaching of controversial aspects of other cultures, reconstructed multiculturalism as opposed to student misconceptions, and nationalism within the context…

The 12th iteration of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2019) is organized under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society in Montreal, Canada. The theme of this year's conference is EDM in Open-Ended Domains. As EDM has matured it has increasingly been applied to open-ended and ill-defined tasks…

This paper reports on a study that used Hestenes' Force Concept Inventory (FCI) to describe Newtonian force concepts and misconception belief systems held by preservice teachers in physical science and physics students attending an urban university in Chicago, Illinois. Results indicate that constructivist instruction in force concepts was of…

Fifty-three elementary school children were tested on Incidental Science Knowledge, i.e., knowledge acquired by chance outside school, and the results obtained were correlated with intellectual development and cognitive style as measured by interviews and group testing, respectively. Indicates that cognitive style and misconception play a…

Scientific and everyday knowledge domains are compared so as to reveal the distinctive differences between their goals and the cognitive processes used to attain them. The main goals, working goals, learning difficulties, knowledge structure, concept specification, knowledge organization, role of school science, program-solving instruction, formal…

Maintains that misperceptions or incorrect mental images about relative location and size are common in geography. Reports on a study of 708 students ranging in age from junior high school through undergraduate school. Finds that misperceptions are widespread and exist across grade levels. (CFR)

This study was conducted to provide information on environmental knowledge of fifth and sixth graders in a Greek city in order to allow effective planning of environmental education. Results indicate that children's knowledge about the environment is influenced by their immediate experience as well as by textbook content. Discusses implications of…

Refutes Mike Cole's article "Racism, Reconstructed Multiculturalism and Antiracist Education" by addressing five main topics: (1) the new racism as a means to changing multicultural education; (2) representation of antiracist educators; (3) advice to teachers of controversial aspects of other cultures; (4) identifying students'…

This paper analyzes "confused history" on the part of students and where that confusion might originate. The study is based on a modified form of content analysis of articles by R. Lederer. The articles offer a compilation of student errors in history and geography. Two major categories of errors are recognized: (1) Type I, represented by errors…

High school students' misunderstandings of the conceptual machine of the BASIC programming language were examined using a screening test and structured interviews to determine their understanding of fundamental concepts such as variables, assignments, loops, flow and control, and tracing and debugging. (MBR)