This paper follows undergraduate students' engagement with the concept of childhood presented to them during a year-long childhood and youth studies module. Through the application of "threshold concepts" as concepts which transform students' understandings of a subject, the challenges of learning new ideas or concepts of childhood are…

Mass assessment of large samples' nature of science views has been one of the core concerns in science education research. Due to impracticality of using open-ended questionnaires or conducting interviews with large groups, another line of research has been required for mass assessment of pupils' nature of science conception meaningfully.…

The demand for Information Systems (IS) graduates with expertise in Structured Query Language (SQL) and database management is vast and projected to increase as "big data" becomes ubiquitous. To prepare students to solve complex problems in a data-driven world, educators must explore instructional strategies to help link prior knowledge…

Threshold concepts are essential ideas about the natural world that present either a barrier or a gateway to a deep understanding of science. Weight, mass, and gravity are threshold concepts that underpin students' abilities to understand important ideas in all fields of science, embodied in the performance expectations in the Next Generation…

Even though science says genetically modified (GM) foods are safe, many consumers remain skeptical of the technology. Additionally, the scientific community has trouble communicating to the public, causing consumers to make uninformed decisions. The Millennial Generation will have more buying power than any other generation before them, and more…

Students can learn subjects more meaningfully through integrated education, as it helps them to link school education with their real lives. There is a strong need to develop an alternative integration method to promote effective implementation of integrated education at a classroom level. The purpose of this study was to develop a model for…

When students enter the classroom, they often hold prior knowledge or conceptions about the natural world. These conceptions will influence how they come to understand what they are taught in school. Some of their existing knowledge provides good foundation for formal schooling, but other prior conceptions, however, are incompatible with currently…

In the context of a research project on the role of prior knowledge state (PKS) in the learning process in a modular education system, a study of the literature was done in order to construct a conceptual map of "prior knowledge." In addition, a study was carried out in order to operationalize the concept of prior knowledge, to construct…

Studies show that misconceptions about psychology are pervasive. This study examined how the strength of prior beliefs and the sources of misinformation relate to conceptual change following an introductory psychology course. Ninety introductory psychology students completed a 36-item "Psychological Information" questionnaire. Testing during the…

The aim of this research was to evaluate and analyse second-year industrial engineering and chemical engineering students prior knowledge of conceptual aspects of "circuit theory". Specifically, we focused on the basic concepts of electric potential and current intensity and on the fundamental relationship between them as expressed by Ohm's law.…

The aims of this study were considered under three headings. The first was to elicit misconceptions that students had about the terms "solute", "solvent" and "solution." The second was to understand how students' prior learning affected their misconceptions. The third was to determine if students were able to make a…

Reports results of procedures directed at isolating and identifying students' difficulties in comprehending the concepts involved in lessons about gas exchange and respiration. Indicates that pupils (n=137) had deficient understanding of prerequisite concepts and tended to operate at the concrete operational level, whereas the highly abstract…