The purpose of this study was to describe the effect of multiple knowledge representations of physical and chemical changes on the development of primary pre-service teachers' cognitive structures. The study took place in an introductory general chemistry laboratory course in a four-year teacher education program. Multiple knowledge…

We report our qualitative study of twenty-four students enrolled in the second-semester of a second-year undergraduate (sophomore-level) organic chemistry course, Organic Two. We asked the research participants to propose the product and electron-pushing mechanism of elementary mechanistic steps in the absence and presence of the corresponding…

Considerable debate exists among discipline-based astronomy education researchers about how students change their perceptions in science and astronomy. The study questioned the development of astronomical models among students in institutions of higher education by examining how college students change their initial conceptual frameworks and…

At present, quality earth science education in grade school is rare, increasing the importance of post-secondary courses. Observations of post-secondary geoscience indicate students often maintain errant ideas about the earth, even after direct instruction. This qualitative case study documents model-building activities of students as they…

This paper is the first part of a multiphase study examining students' mental models about the quantization of physical observables--light, energy, and angular momentum. Thirty-one second-year physics and physics education college students who were taking a modern physics course participated in the study. The qualitative analysis of data revealed…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of node-link mapping on students' meaningful learning and conceptual change in a 1-semester introductory life-science course. This study used node-link mapping to integrate and apply the National Research Council's (NRC, 2005) three principles of human learning: engaging students' prior…

Discussed is a common error made by students in judging the distribution of the magnetic field of a circular loop along its diameter. Qualitative and quantitative explanations of the magnetic field distribution are presented. (CW)

Discusses some of the ways that some scientific concepts evolve and are perpetuated, even if they are not completely accurate. Uses the example of groundwater, citing numerous ways that various people understand it and, in many cases, form misconceptions. (TW)

The purpose of this research was to provide information about gender-related worldview structures, among college students, that can inform the instructional decision making process. Information was generated in a logico-structural investigation of the interrelationship of gender, interest in science, and concept of nature. The strength of the…

Reports on a study designed to determine the importance of images to experienced chemists and the nature of images among learners, with particular attention to correlations with level of learning. Suggests that instructional methods should consider the student's ability to develop specific images appropriate to the chemical concepts. (TW)

Cites the misconceptions that students beginning the study of electric circuits often have about electricity. Explains the use of capacitors with circuits of batteries and light bulbs to introduce electrostatic forces and help to alleviate the problem of misconceptions. (RT)

Examined the effects of an instructional method used to remedy students' difficulties caused by fragmented and incorrectly interpreted knowledge. Described the method using explicit concept-interpretation procedures. Finds that the method helped to revise students' deficient prior knowledge about acceleration, and helped them to interpret it…

In this paper examples of the role of analogical reasoning in expert problem solving are presented. These are intended to show that using an analogy can change an expert's understanding of a problem situation by changing the conceptual model he or she uses to think about the situation. This suggests that using a good analogy may allow students to…

In this study 34 spontaneous analogies produced by 16 college freshmen while solving qualitative physics problems are analyzed. A number of the analogies were invalid in the sense that they led to an incorrect answer from the physicist's point of view. However, many were valid, and a few were powerful in the sense that they seemed not only to help…

Students (N=49) enrolled in a physics course for elementary teachers were evaluated for their abilities to use: (1) combinatorial logic; (2) separation and control of variables; (3) proportional reasoning; and (4) reciprocal implications. Performance of four Piagetian tasks during interviews was treated as a measure of the degree to which students…