Over the last three decades, many studies have been conducted to identify students' preconceptions on various science topics. It is time now for a synthetic study of preconceptions to enhance our understanding of students' everyday cognition and to benefit our effort in developing effective instructional inventions for conceptual change. Through a…

In this article, the authors explore the question, "Does the Moon spin?", and show how the question is investigated. They emphasise the importance of the process by which people work out what they know, by "learning from the inside out." They stress that those involved in science education have to challenge current conceptions and ideas, making…

Reviews the development of the climax concept of succession, illustrates the misconceptions in current textbooks, and provides a conceptual model for an updated view of succession useful in teaching at the introductory level. Contains 38 references. (JRH)

Presents a demonstration that employs angular momentum to disprove the myth that water spirals down a bathtub drain clockwise in one hemisphere and counterclockwise in the other because of the Coriolis force on water. (ZWH)

Discusses incidents of brush-ins with student proponents of the theory of creation science. Provides and answers eight questions typical of both the misinformation spread in creation science literature and the lack of research done by students. (MVL)

Identifies some of the major factors underlying common problems that students have in acquiring an understanding of chemistry concepts. Suggests and discusses the use of concept maps as an aid in ensuring that meaningful learning rather than rote learning has occurred among students. Contains 32 references. (ZWH)

Shows that the conventional wisdom about the extreme inaccuracy of stopwatch measurements during the acceleration and free fall of objects is mistaken. (ZWH)

Describes a procedure for ascertaining secondary students' misconceptions about concepts relating to astronomy. Summarizes results that indicate the usefulness of the approach and the range and extent of the misconceptions which could be revealed. Makes suggestions about how to use the technique in such a way that the findings will challenge the…

Presents the results of a survey on evolution given to 392 university students in western Pennsylvania. Concludes that, although nearly three-quarters of the students say they believe in the theory of evolution, most do not understand the mechanism behind it. (PR)

Reviews a study which examined high school biology students' (N=58) understandings of the concepts of food chain and ecosystem. Discusses the evaluation scheme and relates how this approach can be used in classifying student responses. It was found that most of the students failed to understand the targeted concepts. (ML)

Identifies some of the erroneous and misleading statements discovered in the three-volume middle and junior high school integrated science text, SCIENCE Interactions. (ZWH)

Presents the Vector Knowledge Test that was designed to see if beginning physics students possess the minimal basic knowledge of vectors that will allow them to proceed with a study of Newtonian mechanics. Concludes that only one-third of the students in a calculus-based introductory course at California Polytechnic had sufficient vector…

Though the field of physics is moving toward more realistic problems and the use of computers and mathematical modeling to promote insightful treatment of physical problems, artificial problems still appear in textbooks in the field of electrostatics. Discusses physical arguments why one of the most popular textbook applications of Coulomb's Law…

Expands upon the popular belief that mirrors cause the left-right reversal of objects placed in front of them. The image-location rule and image-symmetry rule are applied throughout the article to help summarize some important properties of mirror images. (ZWH)

Testing using the Golden State Examination, a performance test that employs a variety of testing modes, revealed that students share several misconceptions in biology and chemistry. Some of these misconceptions are shared in this article. (ZWH)