Proposes elements of a model of knowledge structures used in comprehending and generating graphs. Uses the competence model to attempt to organize and interpret findings on misconceptions in graphing. Discusses two types of common misconceptions; treating the graph as a picture and slope-height confusions. (YP)

The misconceptions related to the concepts of force and acceleration among college students are explored. Misconceptions are identified and their occurrence among a large percentage of students are observed. Provided are some implications for physics teaching and an eight-item test. (Author/YP)

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)

Discusses image reflection in a plane mirror. Illustrates several cases of the reflection and points out the possibility of confusing students by using the term "lateral inversion." (YP)

Many drug education programs send a mixed and confusing message to students. Others are clearly wrong. Cites examples and advises administrators to conduct a critical review of all drug education programs. (MLF)

Presents an integrated approach that helps students understand difficult science concepts. Involves counteracting children's confusion over certain concepts, confronting children's misconceptions through inquiry, and presenting a multitude of experiences that challenge children's erroneous beliefs. Presents an example of applying this approach to…

Many ideas attributed to the whole-language approach are not new. Whole language demands that literacy instruction be indirect, unsystematic, and nonintensive and that scope-and-sequence charts be abandoned. Experimental research has judged the major tenets of whole language to be erroneous--a point accepted even by whole-language leaders favoring…

The most general conclusion from analyzing 702 high school students' answers to questionnaires is that many students confuse different major environmental problems, particularly global warming and ozone-layer depletion. There is also a student linking of radioactive contamination, acid rain, and biodiversity reduction. (PR)

Reports on some of the findings of a study involving 25 inner-city students and designed to use students' writing to follow their conceptual changes over a 12-week science unit. Students' writing showed changes in central concepts, complexity, and organization as the lessons progressed. Contains 31 references. (ZWH)

Describes an experiment designed to disprove the belief that an electrical field originating from a point inside a closed conducting surface cannot produce an electric field outside this surface. (ZWH)

Provides evidence that explanations provided by qualified science graduates and by writers of textbooks do not necessarily make sense from a scientific or even a logical perspective when critically examined. Suggests that the process of sharing ideas is problematic and teachers and pupils need to examine critically each other's understanding and…

Reports results of 14 studies on children's knowledge about thinking. Suggests that preschoolers appear to know that thinking is an internal mental activity that can refer to real or imaginary objects or events. However, preschoolers are poor at determining when a person is and is not thinking. This shortcoming is considerably less evident in…

Summarizes the history of the mathematical idea of function and presents questionnaire data from (n=117) mathematics teachers. Results showed that teachers had a tendency to think only in terms of continuous functions, yet had little skill in constructing continuous functions. They scarcely considered discontinuous functions. (14 references) (MKR)

A decade of Canadian research shows that teachers' prior practices influence how technology will be used. There may be trade-offs (in valuable activities) when using new technologies. Teachers often ascribe disproportionate power to computers, allow kids to work on programs with little supervision, and overlook "mouse wars" between…

Discusses a hermeneutical approach to science education that deals with the "misconceptions" problem. Addresses text interpretation and ontological phenomenology, the role of original papers and textbooks, hermeneutics and the history of science, and the use of a hermeneutical approach that bridges the life world and science world for the student.…