Scientific misconceptions are ubiquitous, and in our era of near-instant information exchange, this can be problematic for both public health and the public understanding of scientific topics. Refutation text is one instructional tool for addressing misconceptions and is simple to implement at little cost. We conducted a random-effects…

The scientific literacy level of the whole population has long been focusing the researchers' attention because of its direct impact on many aspects of our lives. As a matter of fact, studies in cognition have both been inspired by educational issues as well as by misconceptions of scientific ideas often based on irrational beliefs, old theories,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations in cognitive and metacognitive processing when learning about physics concepts through text. Specifically, we manipulated the representation of physics concepts in texts about Newtonian mechanics and explored how these texts interacted with…

This research investigates the effect of classroom explicitation of initial conceptions (CEIC) on conceptual change in the context of learning electricity. Eight hundred and seventy five thirteen year-olds were tested in laboratory conditions to see if CEIC is or is not a productive step toward conceptual change. All students experienced a…

Opportunities for the development of science-related pedagogy during training are necessarily limited for the generalist primary (elementary), preservice teacher. While school placement is an important context within which to develop such professional expertise, the role of institution-based learning is less well understood in this regard. This…

This study examined whether reading a refutational or non-refutational text would induce different cognitive processing, as revealed by eye-movement analyses. Unlike a standard expository text, a refutational text acknowledges a reader's alternative conceptions about a topic, refutes them, and then introduces scientific conceptions as viable…

Examines relationships between factors affecting high school students' (n=142) ability to acquire meaningful understanding of specific biological concepts. Assessment using mental modeling techniques showed a significant correlation between students' meaningful learning orientation and their understanding of a topic. Suggests that perhaps much…

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)

Perspectives on a psychological approach to learning are offered in this paper. Specific emphasis is directed to the assumption that children possess "minitheories." Minitheories are defined as attempts to make sense of particular kinds of experiences and are explained and delimited by the domain of experience to which they currently apply. This…