This study examined number sense strategies and misconceptions of 280 Taiwanese pre-service elementary teachers who responded to a series of real-life problems. About one-fifth of the pre-service teachers applied number sense-based strategies (such as using benchmarks appropriately or recognizing the number magnitude) while a majority of…

Sacked, Borne man, and Connelly recently discussed several criticisms that are often raised against the use of cognitive tests in selection. One criticism concerns the issue of measurement bias in cognitive ability tests with respect to specific groups in society. Sacked et AL. (2008) stated that "absent additional information, one cannot…

This activity targets students' misconceptions about embryonic and adult stem cells while also addressing an important grades 9-12 science content standard. The authors designed the activity to provide students an opportunity to explore differences between embryonic and adult stem cells prior to formal explanation. The overarching goal of this…

Proper interpretation of the results of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) is important for program directors, residents, and faculty who advise applicants about applying for residency positions. We suspected that applicants often misinterpreted their performance in relationship to others who took the same examination. In 2005, 54…

This study reports how 24 grade 4-6 students in one elementary and middle school interpreted formal and informal representations of variables. While interpretations for variables represented as letters (e.g., x and y) have been well established for students in algebra classes and beyond, little research into elementary school students'…

Background/Context: Determining John Dewey's exact influence on civic and social education during the early 20th century has been one of the most vexing issues facing curriculum historians. Generally speaking, interpretations of Dewey's work and influence have been plagued by four recurring methodological limitations: First, historians tend to…

A hands-on instructional approach with medium-achieving 10th-grade students (N = 294) successfully demonstrated the achievement of a conceptual change. Two teaching variations were applied (I-1, I-2), both dealing with a hands-on gene technology lesson in an out-of-school laboratory. I-2 additionally confronted the participants with alternative…

This paper describes a case study focusing on the subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and beliefs about science teaching of student teachers in Turkey at the start of their university education. The topic of interest was that of teaching chemical reactions in secondary chemistry education. A written test was developed which…

This chapter describes the author's experience and insights as the chief of evaluation for public diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State, and as a consultant assisting federal agencies in a multitude of evaluation activities relating what helps and hinders internal evaluation functions. The article discusses the challenges faced by the internal…

Despite concerted efforts by science educators to understand patterns of evolutionary reasoning in science students and teachers, the vast majority of evolution education studies have failed to carefully consider or control for item feature effects in knowledge measurement. Our study explores whether robust contextualization patterns emerge within…

This paper focuses on the assessment of student teachers during practicum. The study is contextualised in an Australian pre-service teacher education program in which practicum has been reconceptualised to help bridge the theory-practice gap commonly associated with "front-end loading" programs. Survey and interview data collected from…

Previous research has found a link between theory of mind and cooperation. The aim of this study is to deepen into this relationship, to identify which theory of mind skills are more related to the cooperative ability on a referential communication task. A total of 50 children from first and fifth grade completed a battery of theory of mind tasks,…

College students' misconceptions about probability are common and widespread. These misconceptions impede students' ability to make sound judgments in situations of uncertainty and master fundamental concepts of inferential statistics. In this paper the authors report the results of a study undertaken with the objective of correcting three common…

The paper focuses on analysing grade 12 learner errors and the misconceptions in calculus at a secondary school in Limpopo Province, South Africa. As part of the analysis the paper outlines the nature of mathematics errors and misconceptions. Coding of learners' errors was done through the lens of a typological framework. The analysis showed that…

This is a teaching note on a proposed approach that will correct a common flaw in the way the return-generating process within the APT framework is illustrated in textbooks. The problem can be resolved by dichotomizing the risk factors into two kinds. Based on this approach, the author eliminated the main source of confusion and developed an…