The purpose of the present paper is to examine the socio-cultural foundations of technology-mediated collaborative learning. Toward that end, we discuss the role of artifacts in knowledge-creating inquiry, relying on the theoretical ideas of Carl Bereiter, Merlin Donald, Pierre Rabardel, Keith Sawyer and L. S. Vygotsky. We argue that epistemic…

Following up on the effects of learning environments is essential to learning. The aim of this study was to examine students' mental models related to the concepts of expansion and contraction of materials. The population of the case study consisted of 155 students in a city center in Turkey. The data was gathered using open-ended questions that…

This qualitative case study in a rural school in Umgungundlovu District in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, explored Grade 12 learners' mental constructions of mathematical knowledge during engagement with optimisation problems. Ten Grade 12 learners who do pure Mathemat-ics participated, and data were collected through structured activity sheets and…

The purpose of this study is to determine biology student teachers' cognitive structure with regard to "Blood". Qualitative research method has been used. The free word association test and the draw-write technique have been used in collection of data. The data obtained have been evaluated and divided into categories based on content…

Past research has found that the judged likelihood of properties of modified nouns (baby ducks have webbed feet) is reduced relative to unmodified nouns (ducks have webbed feet). Experiments 1-3 replicate the modification effect and demonstrate that this effect is obtained when participants make dichotomous decisions about the truth of such…

This article considers disciplinary-based knowledge and its recontextualisation and acquisition in the secondary school curriculum. It starts from the premise that teaching disciplinary knowledge is important. The focus is the subject of geography and the increasingly influential realist school of thought in the sociology of education and the…

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…

The purpose of this study was to assess children's images of scientists by using the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST) and to determine if differences in these images exist between grade levels. The DAST was administered to 243 children who were enrolled in kindergarten (aged 6) and grade 3 and 5 (aged 9 and 11). Findings obtained from the study…

Frames are cognitive structures of knowledge grounded in people's social interaction in recurrent sociocultural activities or individual incidences. Discussion concerning the knowledge in frames largely focuses on its linguistic manifestation with regard to roles and role relations in scenes. Little attention has been paid to the scriptal…

Many traditional leadership education paradigms are challenged by the transformational nature of globalization and are limited in application in diverse and complex contexts. In order to address these issues, a new framework must be adopted within higher education leadership programs to educate the next generation of global leaders. This paper…

The study reported in this article concerns the questions what and how fourth-year medical students can learn from a series of cases that have a similar underlying problem. This question is crucial in the theoretical sense as it looks at mechanisms of updating and improving knowledge structures, which are conjectured to consist of "illness…

This paper is the first part of a multiphase study examining students' mental models about the quantization of physical observables--light, energy, and angular momentum. Thirty-one second-year physics and physics education college students who were taking a modern physics course participated in the study. The qualitative analysis of data revealed…

Recently, evidence of poor or atypical motor skills in autism spectrum disorder has led some to argue that motor impairment is a core feature of the condition. The current study uses a longitudinal prospective design to assess the development of motor skills of 20 children at increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorder, who were…

In researches, the subject of respiration has been determined to be among subjects about whom participants from all educational levels struggle to form their cognitive structures and have many alternative conceptions. This research was carried out in order to determine biology student teachers' cognitive structures and alternative conceptions…

The visualisation of knowledge structures through concept mapping can be employed to reveal critical links between theory and practice. This allows consideration of particular disciplinary knowledge structures and the active role of the student in manipulating these structures to gain understanding, in a manner that can encourage students to…