The impulse to investigate the natural world is deeply rooted in our earliest childhood experiences. This notion has long guided researchers to uncover the cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of scientific reasoning in children. Until recently, however, research in cognitive development and education followed largely independent…

The main purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of 5E learning cycle model based instruction and traditionally designed chemistry instruction on 10th grade students' understanding of state of matter and solubility concepts. In this study, 119 tenth grade students from chemistry courses instructed by same teacher from an Anatolian…

Like any apparently novel approach to the basic epistemological problems of "knowledge," the constructivist ideas that have spread in the last 20 years continue to generate a host of negative as well as a few positive reactions. This document focuses on some aspects of Radical Constructivism, as distinct from "trivial"…

Describes a study that investigated whether scientific and nonscientific understandings in the same content area are linked. Finds that students' (n=107) explanations indicate that they were using an "if-then" type of reasoning which linked scientific and nonscientific conceptions. Contains 39 references. (Author/WRM)

This paper analyzes Bogdanov's theory of knowledge as found in philosophical dialogues and essays. The style of Bogdanov's writing and his ideas on philosophy, science, scientific constructs, truth, human knowledge, objectivity and ethics are discussed. These ideas are compared to the constructivist view of knowledge. (CW)

Teacher knowledge--indeed teachers themselves--is always unfinished and incomplete. Knowledge never exists outside of a context of use. The shift to seeing teaching as site of cultural production invites the question, What structures of human relationship will scientists and science educators construct in and through the work they perform? The…

Introduces the ideas of "distal" knowledge of the nature of science and "proximal" knowledge of the nature of science. Suggests that viewing these two kinds of knowledge structures within modern information processing frameworks that delineate roles of epistemological and metacognitive knowledge in learning should guide future research. (Contains…

Examines central parts from the first two papers in this journal by Peter Slezak criticizing the "sociology of scientific knowledge". Considers some of the main philosophical issues raised by sociologists of science. Contains 87 references. (DDR)

Argues that a teacher's practice reflects changing experiences, knowledge, values, and identities, and as such can be productively thought of as a site for learning as well as a site for expounding upon what is known. Suggests a vision for what constitutes effective practice different from that commonly held in science. Contains 33 references.…

Explores whether construction of integrated knowledge structures by students can be stimulated by concept mapping and better visualization of concepts and their interrelationships. Significant effects of concept mapping as an instructional method could not be detected. (Contains 18 references.) (DDR)

Distinguishes between psychological constructivist and social constructivist groups. Explains the reasons for the growing acrimony in debates between the two groups. Discusses social constructivist accounts of the causes of belief in science. Contains 43 references. (DDR)

Presents three studies that demonstrate the efficiency of the kinesthetic conflict in promoting the understanding of three scientific concepts among children aged 5-12. Results support Piaget's theory which determines the origins of scientific thinking. Contains 26 references. (DDR)

Argues that constructivist science education works with an unsatisfactory account of knowledge which affects both its account of the nature of science and of science education. Includes a brief survey of realism and anti-realism in science. Contains 42 references. (DDR)

Discusses and criticizes a number of constructivist positions in education that are based on distinctions between the metaphors of "finding" versus "making" for the obtaining of new knowledge. Discusses what is of value in constructivism and what is ill-founded baggage. Contains 25 references. (DDR)

Investigates conceptions of the geosciences held by a university geology instructor and five students before and after a teaching intervention. Argues for the use of repertory grids to elicit personal constructs. Advocates targeting the societal aims of geological education within a constructivist framework. Contains 54 references. (Author/WRM)