Purpose: Numerous factors currently challenge food production in the United States, and these are likely to intensify. We sought to understand what challenges US agriculturalists find to be most salient as well as the responses they recommend. Methodology: We gained insights primarily through the analysis of transcripts from the qualitative…

We investigate how students connect explanations and arguments from evidence about plant growth and metabolism--two key practices described by the "Next Generation Science Standards". This study reports analyses of interviews with 22 middle and high school students postinstruction, focusing on how their sense-making strategies led them…

We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific…

College-level biology courses contain many complex processes that are often taught and learned as detailed narratives. These processes can be better understood by perceiving them as dynamic systems that are governed by common fundamental principles. Conservation of matter is such a principle, and thus tracing matter is an essential step in…

Pretests and posttests on the topic of evolution through natural selection were administered to students in a college nonmajors' biology course. Analysis of test responses revealed that most students understood evolution as a process in which species respond to environmental conditions by changing gradually over time. Student thinking differed…

The processes of photosynthesis and respiration are basic to the understanding of many other aspects and functions of biological systems. Because of their curricular significance, these processes served as the focal point in an investigation of student conceptions and instructional effectiveness. In this study, students in a college nonscience…

This study focused on misconceptions related to light and vision. Researchers administered diagnostic tests about light, vision, and color before and after instruction to 227 fifth-grade students over a 2-year period. They also conducted 11 clinical interviews. The tests and interviews revealed that almost all students shared certain…

Discussed are the results of a test administered to nonmajor biology students on the topic of natural selection. The description of student conceptions, effects of instruction, and the effects of a belief in evolution are included. (KR)

Designed to address major conceptual problems associated with heat and temperature, this module can be used with high school students or college nonscience majors including those in elementary education. The materials offer guidance to teachers in diagnosing student deficiencies, in creating dissatisfaction with misconceptions, and in providing…

Presents results of intensive clinical interviews with 11 high school chemistry students representing a broad range of achievement levels as selected from 180 students who completed a written test upon completion of an instructional unit on chemical change. Results indicate that students commonly experience difficulties in chemical knowledge,…

Designed to address the major conceptual problems associated with evolution and variation and survival in populations, this module can be used with high school students or college nonscience majors including those in elementary education. It is one in a series developed by the project "Overcoming Critical Barriers to Learning in Nonmajors'…

This document contains a set of instructional materials about photosynthesis that were used in a research study of middle school science teaching during 1985-86. The Middle School Science Project investigated ways to help middle school science teachers use teaching strategies that were identified in earlier studies as particularly effective in…

This document contains a set of instructional materials about cellular respiration that were used in a research study of middle school science teaching during 1985-86. The Middle School Science Project investigated ways to help middle school science teachers use teaching strategies that were identified in earlier studies as particularly effective…