Pre-service teachers' mental models of the nature of soil were investigated in a sample of 181 students from four different Spanish universities, using three different methodological approaches: a phenomenographic analysis of definitions, a categorisation of labelled-drawings and the analysis of answers to a questionnaire consisting of both open-…

The ability to recognize and correct errors in one's explanatory understanding is critically important for learning. However, little is known about the mechanisms that determine when and under what circumstances errors are detected and how they are corrected. The present study investigated thought experiments as a potential tool that can reveal…

To retrospectively explore the characteristics of plasma amino acids (PAAs) in children with autism spectrum disorder and their clinical association via case-control study. A total of 110 autistic and 55 healthy children were recruited from 2014 to 2018. The clinical phenotypes included severity of autism, cognition, adaptability, and regression.…

Solving systems of linear equations is a core concept in linear algebra and a wide variety of problems found in the sciences and engineering can be formulated as linear equations. This study sought to explore undergraduate students' development of the schema for solving systems of linear equations. The triad framework was used to describe the…

Identifying a student's mental model is important for understanding scientific concepts. Dispersion and polarization are the sub concept of physics that studied in high school on light waves concept. This study aimed to develop dispersion and polarization conceptual inventory (DIPOLCI) to identify students' model mental using Rasch analysis. The…

Many research studies have shown that lower-secondary school students' scientific literacy depends on their understanding of corresponding scientific concepts. Therefore, it is of great significance to model and assess students' conceptual understanding in learning specific scientific concepts, because it can reflect and diagnose students'…

Social and emotional competencies (SEC) are critical for success in school and life, as they include the ability to interact with others, regulate one's emotions and behavior, solve problems, and communicate effectively. Research and practice show that dance experiences enhance social-emotional development, yet less is known about the mechanisms…

This paper discusses findings from an ongoing study investigating mental mechanisms involved in the conceptualisation of linear transformations from the perspective of Action (A), Process (P), Object (O), and Schema (S) (APOS) theory. Data reported in this paper came from 44 first-year linear algebra students' responses on a task regarding the…

This study aims to explore the mental models of students about suspending objects in liquid fluid. The study used a descriptive qualitative method and implemented cross-sectional approach. It involved 57 students from grade 5 of elementary school to fourth-year prospective physics teachers. The data collection used a test consisting of twenty-six…

Teachers and caregivers use children's books (i.e., trade books) to support mathematics learning in school and home settings; shared book reading offers a unique opportunity to support students' understanding of operations and schema development. No prior studies have examined the representations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and…

In teaching sciences, models are often used to introduce, elaborate or simplify real-world phenomena or concepts. It is, however, often the case that misconceptions arise from or are facilitated by these teaching models during their transition to mental models of the individual learners. For instance, models are often seen as direct replicas of…

The ability to form a mental model of a text is an essential component of successful reading comprehension (RC), and purpose for reading can influence mental model construction. Participants were assigned to one of two conditions during an RC test to alter their purpose for reading: concurrent (texts and questions were presented simultaneously)…

This study investigated the sustainability effects of the schema-based instruction (SBI) program and corresponding PD on the instructional practices of two cohorts of teachers (i.e., SBI experienced-teacher implementers and SBI novice-teacher implementers) and on students' ability to reason with proportions and overall mathematics performance. SBI…

The concept of fractions given in learning is the concept of part of whole and part of unit. The development of student's concepts of fractions can be built through fraction schemes. A partitive fraction scheme is a scheme that estimates the size of the fraction in the form of non-units to the whole that is not partitioned. The concept of…

Creating a metaphor for the concept of energy can contribute to the determination of the mental structuring of the concept of energy. Pre-service teachers' metaphors about the concept of energy were classified according to traditional and scientific fields. The metaphors produced by the mathematics and science teacher candidates for the concept of…