As children develop an understanding of their place in the universe, their mental model of the solar system should really go beyond a list of planet names and attributes to become a dynamic concept of bodies in motion and interaction. Montessori educators can help build a Sensorial impression of the cosmos by physically modeling the nature of…

Formative assessments serve to engage students in active sense-making, making them critical tools for both teachers and students. Though formative assessments may be an informal mode of assessing, they are one of the most important, especially when teaching science. As a subject, teaching science does not have the same kind of beginning-middle-end…

The aim of the present study is to determine pre-service teachers' mental models related to basic astronomy concepts. The study was conducted using a survey method with 293 pre-service teachers from 4 different departments; physics education, science education, primary teacher education and early childhood education. An achievement test with…

The question examined in this "Science 101" column was inspired by "Find Your School's Analemma" (in this issue). What causes the Sun's apparent position in the sky to trace a figure-eight pattern throughout one year? The analemma, or figure eight pattern that the Sun makes throughout the year, is due to two major…

This paper presents a model of how children generate concrete concepts from perception through processes of differentiation and integration. The model informs the design of a novel methodology ("evolutionary maps" or "emaps"), whose implementation on certain domains unfolds the web of itineraries that children may follow in the…

This research project aimed to identify and analyze Mexican primary school students' ideas about the components of the solar system. In particular, this study focused on conceptions of the solar system and representations of the dynamics of the solar system based on the functional and structural models that students make in school. Using a…

This study investigated the predictive ability of an intentional learning model in the change of preservice early childhood teachers' conceptual understanding of lunar phases. Fifty-two preservice early childhood teachers who were enrolled in an early childhood science methods course participated in the study. Results indicated that the use…

This article notes the convergence of recent thinking in neuroscience and grounded cognition regarding the way we understand mental representation and recollection: ideas are dynamic and multi-modal, actively created at the point of recall. Also, neurophysiologically, re-entrant signalling among cortical circuits allows non-conscious processing to…

The roles of conceptual change and model building in science education are very important and have a profound and wide effect on teaching science. This study examines the change in children's position concepts after instruction, based on different conceptual change theories. Three classes were chosen and divided into three groups, including a…

Studies of children's knowledge of the Earth have led to very different conclusions: some appear to show that children construct their own, non-scientific "theories" (mental models) of the flat, hollow or dual Earth. Others indicate that many young children have some understanding of the spherical (scientific) Earth, and that their…

This study has examined the impact of teaching certain basic concepts of astronomy through a predict-observe-explain strategy, which includes three-dimensional (3D) computer modeling and observations on conceptual changes seen in sixth-grade elementary school children (aged 11-13; number of students: 131). A pre- and postastronomy instruction…

The study investigated the mental models of primary school children related to the day/night cycle. Semi-structure interviews were conducted with 40 fourth-grade and 40 sixth-grade children. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data indicated that the majority of the children were classified as having geocentric models. The results also…

This case study describes a teacher's development of and creativity in manipulating physical models in an astronomy course for in-service science teachers of K-8. Specifically, she organized a data table from several charts of numbers, constructed a moon-ball model in addition to a 2-D model, and created a hula hoop model as a concrete realization…

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…

The study of conceptual change traces its heritage to the notions of paradigm (networks of shared beliefs, concepts, practices) and paradigm shift made famous by Thomas Kuhn in his book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". Kuhn's work was quickly linked to developmental psychology (how knowledge develops) and to science education (teaching…