Some descriptions of learning represent the process as the development of organisations of elements. Various organisations have been proposed, for example, schemata and conceptual structures. Such representations assume that mental entities, such as concepts, are sufficiently stable and differentiated to be treated as units. We discuss these…

Structural reasoning is a combined ability to "look for structures, recognize structures, probe into structures, act upon structures, reason in terms of general structures, and see how a piece of knowledge acquired resolves a perturbation experienced" (Harel and Soto, 2017). The purpose of this study was to explore the cognitive…

Introduction: The emerging technology of three-dimensional (3D) printing has the potential to provide unique 3D modeling to support specific content in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, particularly chemistry. Method: Seventeen (n=17) students with visual impairments were provided direct instruction on chemistry…

The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of the visiting-scientist approach supported by conceptual change activities on high school students' images of scientists and perceptions of gender and risks that scientists take. Twenty-five students attending 10th grade in the 2017-2018 academic years participated in the study. A…

Traditionally, when ontology is taught in a graduate studies course on social research, there is a tendency for this concept to be examined through the process of lectures and readings. Such an approach often leaves graduate students to grapple with a personal embodiment of this concept and to comprehend how ontology can ground their research.…

While haptics (simulated touch) represents a potential breakthrough technology for science teaching and learning, there is relatively little research into its differential impact in the context of teaching and learning. This paper describes the testing of a haptically enhanced simulation (HES) for learning about buoyancy. Despite a lifetime of…

The practice of using images in teaching is widespread, and in science education images are used so extensively that some have argued they are now the "main vehicle of communication" (C. Ferreira, A. Arroio "Problems Educ. 21st Century" 2009, 16, 48-53). Although this phenomenon is especially notable in the field of…

This case study suggests that there are important links between students' perceptions and metacognitive development. David was one of five students who were interviewed in the second semester of a second year chemical engineering course in which the fundamental concepts of the discipline are first encountered. This paper assesses David's way of…

This study examines what children learn about animals. The mental models that children reveal through their talk when they are faced with several different types of representations are reviewed. These representations are provided by robotic models in a museum, preserved animals in a museum, and preserved animals borrowed from a museum and…

When interviewed, 105 third-grade students indicated that they did not view retardation as a set of behaviors, but as a trait, defined abstractly and perceived to be both predetermined and largely irreversible through personal effort. Children did not assume that being retarded excluded being pretty, athletic, or smart. (Author/JDD)

Knowledge representations and mental models from graphically presented information were investigated for 98 college students with different levels of mathematics experience. The subjects were drawn from a remedial algebra course (n=35), a second semester calculus course (n=35), and a calculus-based statistics course (n=28); they were all exposed…

A review of the essentials of ability formation theory is followed by a review of recent research relevant to the question of how students develop conceptions of their abilities. The ways in which ability formation theory may be refined on the basis of recent findings regarding classroom process are discussed. (PN)