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Ramesh, Adlin Premla Vincent; Abd. Rauf, Rose Amnah; Mohd Fadzil, Hidayah – Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 2020
Over the past few decades, researchers have focused on the lack of conceptual understanding of mole concept because it is considered to be difficult for students globally. Due to its abstract and mathematical nature, chemistry teachers tend to use algorithmic teaching strategies to provide learning experiences for students, resulting in…
Descriptors: Scientific Concepts, Chemistry, Brain, Cognitive Structures
Eryilmaz Mustu, Özlem; Özkan, Emin Berk – Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, 2019
The aim of this study is to determine the pre-service teachers' perceptions of atom and atomic structure through a word association test. It is important to concretize the concepts having a significant influence on the learning of subjects. Through this concretization, students' understanding of the concepts and accordingly of the subjects is…
Descriptors: Nuclear Physics, Preservice Teachers, Associative Learning, Student Attitudes
Tripto, Jaklin; Assaraf, Orit Ben Zvi; Amit, Miriam – Instructional Science: An International Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2018
The goal of this study was to identify and understand the mental models developed by 67 high school biology students as they learn about the human body as a complex system. Using concept maps, it sought to find an external way of representing how students organize their ideas about the human body system in their minds. We conducted a qualitative…
Descriptors: High School Students, Biology, Human Body, Cognitive Structures
Delgado, Cesar; Lucero, Margaret M. – Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2015
Graphing is a fundamental part of the scientific process. Scales are key but little-studied components of graphs. Adopting a resources-based framework of cognitive structure, we identify the potential intuitive resources that six undergraduates of diverse majors and years at a public US research university activated when constructing scales, and…
Descriptors: Graphs, Scaling, Undergraduate Students, Majors (Students)
Rodrigues, R.; Carvalho, P. Simeão – Physics Education, 2014
In this paper we show an example of how to use a computational simulation to obtain visual feedback for students' mental models, and compare their predictions with the simulated system's behaviour. Additionally, we use the computational simulation to incrementally modify the students' mental models in order to accommodate new data,…
Descriptors: Feedback (Response), Science Instruction, Physics, Cognitive Structures
Kurnaz, Mehmet Altan; Eksi, Cigdem – Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 2015
Students often have difficulties understanding abstract physics concepts, such as solid friction. This study examines high school students' mental models of solid friction through a case study of 215 high school students in the ninth through twelfth grades. An achievement test with three open-ended questions was created, with questions limited to…
Descriptors: Physics, Science Instruction, Secondary School Science, High School Students
Reinfried, Sibylle; Tempelmann, Sebastian – International Journal of Science Education, 2014
This paper provides a video-based learning process study that investigates the kinds of mental models of the atmospheric greenhouse effect 13-year-old learners have and how these mental models change with a learning environment, which is optimised in regard to instructional psychology. The objective of this explorative study was to observe and…
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Secondary School Students, Climate, Scientific Concepts
Supasorn, Saksri – Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2015
This study aimed to develop the small-scale experiments involving electrochemistry and the galvanic cell model kit featuring the sub-microscopic level. The small-scale experiments in conjunction with the model kit were implemented based on the 5E inquiry learning approach to enhance students' conceptual understanding of electrochemistry. The…
Descriptors: Grade 12, Cytology, Science Experiments, Energy
Akaygun, Sevil; Jones, Loretta L. – Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2013
Helping learners to visualize the structures and dynamics of particles through the use of technology is challenging. Animations and simulations can be difficult for learners to interpret and can even lead to new misconceptions. A systematic approach to development based on the findings of cognitive science was used to design, develop, and evaluate…
Descriptors: Chemistry, Computer Simulation, Science Instruction, Questionnaires
Malone, Kathy L. – Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 2008
The modeling instruction pedagogy for the teaching of physics has been proven to be quite effective at increasing the conceptual understanding and problem-solving abilities of students to a much greater extent than that of nonmodeling students. Little research has been conducted concerning the cognitive and metacognitive skills that modeling…
Descriptors: Physics, Cognitive Structures, Problem Solving, Metacognition
Viennot, Laurence – Physics Education, 2006
Given that enhancing the motivation of young people for science is a widely shared goal, the question posed is how to raise intellectual satisfaction among students by showing the consistency and conciseness of physical theories. I argue that certain rituals in our teaching practices can make physical theories seem inconsistent, even absurd. Using…
Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Cognitive Structures, Science Instruction, Physics
Minstrell, Jim; Stimpson, Virginia C. – 1986
By studying many observations from recent research dealing with beginning physics students' conceptions about forces and motion, this investigation produced a framework within which this research can be organized. The framework summarizes the mechanisms of force invoked by students in particular situations, and it describes the features of…
Descriptors: Cognitive Structures, Concept Formation, Force, Misconceptions

Sadanand, Nanjundiah; Kess, Joseph – Physics Teacher, 1990
Described are the results of a conceptual physics survey given to a small group of high school physics students with the goal of identifying common misconceptions held by students. Three common misconceptions were identified and are discussed in detail. (CW)
Descriptors: Cognitive Structures, High Schools, Mechanics (Physics), Misconceptions

Mohapatra, J. K. – Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1988
Identifies an induced incorrect generalization as a generative cause for the formation of misconception. Analyzes students' protocol of an exploratory learning experiment about the laws of reflection of light. Suggests recommendations for textbook, teaching, and practical work. (Author/YP)
Descriptors: Cognitive Structures, Concept Formation, Generalization, Misconceptions
Clement, John – 1978
This paper attempts to show that it is possible to analyze a problem solving protocol in which the subject spontaneously generates a series of analogies. The qualitative physics problem given to the subject describes a situation where that which is unfamiliar is often solved by relating it to several analogous situations that are more familiar.…
Descriptors: Analogy, Cognitive Structures, College Science, Higher Education