To be able to support students' competence development in solving physics problems over the course of a lesson series effectively, teachers need a proper appreciation of students' deficiencies. As teachers commonly assess students' competence by means of written tests, teachers are challenged to interpret students' work on these tests and to…

Coordination class theory has proven to be a useful theoretical framework for describing processes of conceptual change in certain physical and mathematical concepts. Its development throughout different studies has allowed us to understand numerous mechanisms of conceptual learning by individual subjects. There have been attempts to implement…

There is growing interest in implementing reform-based lab courses in undergraduate physics that are student driven rather than instructor driven. In these courses, students develop and carry out experiments while simultaneously reasoning about their hypotheses, data collection procedures, collected evidence, and the relevant physics content.…

Learners underperform in stoichiometry as they lack conceptual reasoning of the underlying concepts and the ability to solve stoichiometric problems. Therefore, it was necessary to determine if there is a statistical correlation between problem-solving skills and conceptual reasoning in stoichiometry and if so, whether one can significantly…

The purpose of this paper is to examine some mathemagenic activities that would transform the internal representations of learners' cognitive structure. The paper pointed out that understanding scientific concept involves the learner's role in translating instructive information into internal representation through the use of some mathemagenic…

The venerable aphorism "an old dog cannot learn new tricks" implies that the elderly rarely learn anything new--in particular, scientific knowledge. On the basis of "learning by doing," the present study emphasized knowledge application (KA) as elderly subjects collaborated on the design of a toy flying saucer (UFO). Three…

In recent years, researches had shown that the development of problem solving skill became important for education, and the educational robots are capable for promoting students not only understand the physical and mathematical concepts, but also have active and constructive learning. Meanwhile, the importance of situation in education is rising,…

How does learning about scientists' struggles during their scientific knowledge building affect students' science learning? Two hundred and seventy-one high school students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) the struggle-oriented background information (n = 90) condition, which presented students with stories about 3 scientists'…

In this study, a conceptual change model serves as a theoretical underpinning for analyzing what might count as evidence of conceptual change. Theoretical components of the conceptual change model include the status a conception has for learners, and the conceptual ecology of knowledge within which conceptions are believed to survive and have…

In this article, constructivism is examined as an epistemological basis for school science and mathematics instruction. The nature and process of constructing scientific and mathematical knowledge in school settings is also considered. A distinction is made between truth and feasibility, and the implications for science education are discussed.…

Presents a theory of learning in science based on students deriving conceptual linkages among multiple models which represent physical phenomena at different levels of abstraction. Finds that high school students who were exposed to derivational links among three models for basic electricity performed better when solving both qualitative and…

The process of students' conceptual change was evaluated during a computer-supported physics unit in a Grade 10 science class. Computer simulation programs were developed to confront students' alternative conceptions in mechanics. A conceptual test was administered as pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests to determine students' conceptual change.…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE SPECIFIC METHODS OF DEVELOPING THE INQUIRY SKILLS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN. ACTIVITIES INVOLVED SELECTING SPECIFIC METHODS, GATHERING MATERIALS, AND TRAINING QUALIFIED TEACHERS. A 24-WEEK, INQUIRY TRAINING PROGRAM WAS GIVEN TO FIFTH- AND SIXTH-GRADE CHILDREN WHICH INCORPORATED--(1) ANALYSIS, (2)…

The National Research Council is coordinating the development of national standards for science education in grades K through 12. By the fall of 1994, National Science Education Standards will be completed and published. The standards will contain narrative descriptions of what all students should be able to do to engage and understand the natural…

The National Research Council is coordinating the development of national standards for science education in grades K through 12. By the fall of 1994, National Science Education Standards will be completed and published. The standards will contain narrative descriptions of what all students should be able to do to engage and understand the natural…