Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AS) are pharmacologic derivatives of the hormone testosterone. They have therapeutic merit when used under a physician's prescription to treat certain hormonal imbalances and some forms of anemia; however, when taken in high doses they have a number of virilizing, feminizing, toxic, and psychological effects. This…

The science learning cycle developed by Robert Karplus and others in the 1960's has been a useful model for many science teachers and researchers. This model stresses the use of structured inquiry to organize knowledge acquisition and problem solving. Recent research in the cognitive science tradition, however, has shown that learning and problem…

Pretests and posttests on the topic of evolution through natural selection were administered to students in a college nonmajors' biology course. Analysis of test responses revealed that most students understood evolution as a process in which species respond to environmental conditions by changing gradually over time. Student thinking differed…

There are the only two studies available on the types of solutions--unsaturated, saturated, supersaturated, dilute and concentrate--in the related literature with respect to students' understanding. But, no study focuses on remediation of students' alternative conceptions with regard to the aforementioned concepts, based on the assumption that…

Reviews a study which examined high school biology students' (N=58) understandings of the concepts of food chain and ecosystem. Discusses the evaluation scheme and relates how this approach can be used in classifying student responses. It was found that most of the students failed to understand the targeted concepts. (ML)

The popular conception of illegal drug use as inevitably pushing users toward compulsive drug abuse, and the ideological stance that drug use is a moral weakness, are offered by many as justification for punitive drug control. Challenging this view are the research on "set and setting" as determinants of the consequences of drug use, and…

The National Science Education Standards (NSES) provides few resources for teaching about plants. To assure students understand and appreciate plants, the author advocates teaching about plants as a basic biological concept, avoiding animal chauvinism in biology coursework, correcting pseudoscience and anthropomorphisms about plants, and making…

Although pressure forms the basis for understanding topics such as the internal structure of the earth, weather cycles, rock formation, Bernoulli's principle, and plate tectonics, the presence of this concept in the school curriculum is at a minimal level. This paper suggests that the ideas, misconceptions, and perceptions of students have to do…

This book reports on students' reactions to different situations in mathematics and science education. A theory is presented to explain and predict students' responses which is based on these observations. The identified rules of the theory of intuitive rules is explained. Chapters include: (1) "How Children and Adults Use the Intuitive Rule 'More…

The purpose of this research was to find the relation between the level of cognitive conflict and students' conceptual change. In this study, 30 Korean high school students were selected from 450 10th graders by examining the pretest results. To create students' cognitive conflicts, two different strategies were used to foster anomalous…

Diversity is an idea that merits closer critical analysis. Many efforts to support diversity are framed by discourses grounded in conceptualizations of culture, difference, and identity that further the status quo, not multicultural understanding. Schools need a strategy of teaching and learning about differences that radically challenges people's…

Suggests that the cross product of two vectors can be more easily and accurately explained by starting from the perspective of dyadics because then the concept of vector multiplication has a simple geometrical picture that encompasses both the dot and cross products in any number of dimensions in terms of orthogonal unit vector components. (AIM)

Examines student teachers' understanding of the concept of force using a two-part written questionnaire. Findings indicate that there is a serious discrepancy between student teachers' understanding of force and the accepted scientific view. Contains 20 references. (JRH)

Investigates 49 preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of what causes the seasons using both a written procedure and a procedure that used models with verbal explanations. Results suggest that preservice elementary teachers are likely to show a high frequency of alternative conceptions of what causes the seasons and these conceptions are not…

Analyzes conceptions of energy of physics students' in a pre-service teacher training program. Findings indicate that the students are considerably anthropocentric in their associations, their choice of pictures, and their alternative conceptions and hold a number of different, alternative conceptions when describing physical situations. Contains…