Dual-process theories of reasoning suggest that humans reason using two processes often referred to as process 1 (heuristic) and process 2 (analytic). When presented with a situation requiring any sort of reasoning or decision making, process 1 automatically engages and generates an initial mental model to address the situation. Process 2 may or…

Formal science education is the last stage of acquiring scientific knowledge for most people. They rely on the knowledge acquired at school for the rest of their lives. Therefore, it is important that formal education changes students' colloquial knowledge into scientific knowledge and is correct. The study decided to test three situations. In the…

Educators' work is a key element in museums' learning experience, yet knowledge about their professional development is still limited. In this study, we followed three science museum educators' professional growth during collaboration with researchers, with special focus on the introduction of research-based frameworks in their practice. To…

The central goal of this study was to characterize major patterns of reasoning exhibited by college chemistry students when analyzing and interpreting chemical data. Using a case study approach, we investigated how a representative student used chemical models to explain patterns in the data based on structure-property relationships. Our results…

The goal of science education is usually meant to develop students' basic knowledge, skills, and scientific attitudes as stated in many countries' curriculum documents, with little consideration of what backgrounds students bring into the classroom. A cultural approach to education has challenged this universal goal of science education. This…

In this rejoinder to Bryan Brown and John Reveles, we highlight the facts that (a) sociocultural theories of learning do not go far enough because they fail to address a number of issues and (b) we require concepts such as power and positionality to understand science learning.

Offers a resolution to the debate between constructivists and realists regarding the epistemological status of human knowledge. Presents evidence in the form of three case studies and one experimental study. Concludes that knowledge acquisition involves a pattern idea generation and test that, when cast in the form of a verbal argument, follows an…

The issue of students' engagement in learning physics has generally been analysed in science education research using attitudes towards science, or motivation to learn science. However, the corresponding studies have their limitations. Therefore, the object of this paper is to present and to analyse an alternative to these theoretical approaches;…

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…

Studied a limited number of students exposed to teaching materials and strategies (developed from a cognitive perspective on learning), such that their impact would be monitored to determine how the learners constructed new knowledge frameworks as teaching proceeded. Includes background information, comparisons of teacher's intentions and…

This report describes an attempt to apply a critical empirical test to some predictions from Ausubel's theory concerning the subsuming role of advance organizers. Alternative explanations are proposed and subsequent predictions tested. (BT)

Reports on the relationship between students' propositional knowledge, measured by concept mapping tasks, and their study strategies, measured by self-report questionnaires, as it relates to the concept of photosynthesis as presented in a first-year biology course. Results indicate that involved, purposeful study strategies, prompted by relevant…