This study aimed to examine the impact of years of experience and field of expertise on the development of chemistry knowledge structures from STEM experts comprising 103 professors, 10 postdocs, and 146 doctoral students. Of these participants, 127 were specialized in chemistry and the rest were from various science and engineering disciplines.…

This study aimed to determine the cognitive structures of preservice primary school teachers for basic biology concepts using Word Association Test (WAT). The study group consists of 50 preservice teachers studying in a university in Western Black Sea Region in Turkey. Four separate cut-off points were determined and analysed. Organ, living…

The purpose of this study was to determine the state of secondary school students? cognitive structures about argument and related concepts and to reveal the change in their cognitive structures regarding these concepts after the implementation of the argumentation-oriented approach in science lessons. This study was conducted in Grade 6, 7, 8…

This paper addresses a problem that greatly complicates the implementation of dialogic educational approaches in schools: the dilemma between driving children's talk towards normatively accepted conceptions and, at the same time, avoiding the introduction of these normative conceptions into the dialogue by the teacher. I argue that this dilemma is…

The abstractness of the chemistry concept can be understood easily through chemistry learning using multiple representations. This article used the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method to review eleven articles published from 2012 to 2021 and focused on chemistry learning using various representations. The articles are systematically obtained…

The purpose of education is to actualise meaningful learning. Therefore, researching the issues on how students process information and how they configure it is important for meaningful learning. The issue of protein synthesis contains a number of abstract topics and concepts. Hence, it is important in biology teaching to be informed of students'…

Model-Based learning is a methodology that facilitates students' construction of scientific knowledge, which, sometimes, includes restructuring their mental models. Taking into consideration students' learning process, its aim is to promote a deeper understanding of phenomena's dynamics through the manipulation of models. Our aim was to ascertain…

Knowledge concerning continuously improving branches of science such as biotechnology in particular is difficult to be understood properly by students, or they learn it incorrectly. One of the most important reasons for this is that students cannot associate in their mind the relevant concepts. The aim of this research is to determine prospective…

In this study, the use of concept cartoons in a particle structure of matter unit was investigated using the flow map of 7th-grade students' academic achievement. The development of their cognitive structures and thoughts about concept cartoons was analyzed. 27 experimental and 27 control group students who were studying in the 7th grade…

Understanding students' cognitive structures in a specific knowledge domain helps to determine the ''what, how and why'' features of such knowledge, so that we can take these structures into consideration in teaching. The purpose of the present study was to identify students' cognitive structures about solution and dissolution concepts. The study…

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,…

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…

This paper aims at shedding light on what students can "construct" when they learn science and how this construction process may be supported. Constructivism is a pluralist theory of science education. As a consequence, I support, there are several points of view concerning this construction process. Firstly, I stress that constructivism…

This study compared the effects of a constructivist-visual mind map teaching approach (CMA) and of a traditional teaching approach (TTA) on (a) the quality and richness of students' knowledge structures and (b) TTA and CMA students' perceptions of the extent that a constructivist learning environment (CLE) was created in their classes. The sample…

This paper draws attention to the literature in the areas of learning, specifically, constructivism, conceptual change and cognitive development. It emphasizes the contribution of such research to our understanding of the learning process. This literature provides guidelines for teachers, at all levels, in their attempt to have their students…