This study examined the impact of spatial ability on science achievement by distinguishing between domain-general and domain-specific spatial abilities, focusing on their relationship with the conceptual understanding of the apparent path of the sun. Additionally, the mediating effects of domain-specific spatial knowledge on the relationships…

This study investigated eight experienced science teachers' and eight senior high school students' metavisualization when they drew models to represent their concepts of carbon cycling. Qualitative data collection techniques including think-aloud tasks and follow-up retrospective interviews were employed. The purposes of the study included: (1) to…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of different ways to use visualizations on high school students' electrochemistry conceptual understanding and motivation towards chemistry learning. Expanding upon a model-based learning approach (Khan, 2007), we adopted a VGEM sequence (View, Generate, Evaluate, and Modify) to create three…

Learning about components and processes of complex biological systems is challenging and requires abstraction through mediational tools such as text, visuals, models and visualisation experiences. The 'systems concepts' necessitate building coherent relations and anticipating consequences, requiring greater mediational support. This article…

Extant research on the efficacy of drawing for assessing learning in chemistry suggests it may provide richer information on the quality of students' mental models. Here, we examine the relative utility of formative assessments that involve drawing modalities as well as verbal and symbolic modalities. We analyzed the drawings, written…

Student-generated drawing is a useful strategy to construct students' scientific ideas. For exploring ways to support student-generated drawing, we focused on the perspective of 'Norms' -- shared behaviour patterns desirable in a community. We investigated what norms were formed and how they emerged when students made drawings to explain…

In this research, we gave to technical university students (N=50) and high school students (N=75) a verbally described situation of a partially defined physics problem. The task for the both groups of the students was to generate drawings of how they imagined the situation that the problem referred to. A fully abstract drawing was generated by 48%…

Developing pre-service science teachers' epistemic insight remains a challenge, despite decades of research in related bodies of work such as the nature of science (NOS) in science education. While there may be numerous aspects to this problem, one critical element is that the NOS is a meta-concept that demands higher-order cognitive skills. One…

The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the changes in preservice science teachers' beliefs about science teaching during a science teacher training programme. The study was designed as a panel study, and the data were collected from the same participants at the end of each academic year during a four-year period. The participants…

In this study, we investigated how students used a drawing tool to visualize their ideas of chemical reaction processes. We interviewed 30 students using thinking-aloud and retrospective methods and provided them with a drawing tool. We identified four types of connections the students made as they used the tool: drawing on existing knowledge,…

Teachers possess certain beliefs -- opinions or perceptions accepted as truth -- based on their past experiences which they bring with them to the classroom (Norman, 1983). These beliefs shape their reality and give them the confidence to try new things, ask new questions, or question their existing beliefs (Dervin, 2003). This article discusses…

Research indicates that student understanding is either confirmed or reformed when given opportunities to share what they know. This study was conducted to answer the research question: Will classroom dialogue facilitate students' understanding of lunar concepts related to geometric spatial visualisation? Ninety-two middle school students engaged…

The 7th International Conference on Education Data Mining held on July 4th-7th, 2014, at the Institute of Education, London, UK is the leading international forum for high-quality research that mines large data sets in order to answer educational research questions that shed light on the learning process. These data sets may come from the traces…