Education is on the wrong track largely because of "solutions" that have isolated teachers and students from one another and from sensible ways of spending time. Assessment is a full-fledged disaster that discriminates, stigmatizes, and disempowers individuals for life. Education is not an orderly, rational system. Educators should…

Debunks nostalgic beliefs about traditional family life. Throughout most of U.S. history, families have been diverse and needed more than one breadwinner. Women and children have borne the brunt of poverty, and violence and abuse were once a normal part of maintaining family order. Today, many stable, intact families depend on illegal immigrants'…

Focuses on the intellectual history of American higher education and how it has shaped the current issues around cultural diversity and political correctness. Shows how a major part of the controversy over cultural diversity in higher education stems from the ideology of white superiority, which is pervasive and deeply rooted in American higher…

Investigated students' understanding of the concept of weightlessness and found it to be influenced by the confusion between the concepts of weight and gravitational force. The causal structure of students' knowledge presents a platform for interpreting students' alternative ideas about weight and related physical concepts, which could guide…

The problem-solving difficulties of Nigerian preservice chemistry teachers (n=300) were investigated. The results from written tests and an interview show students were capable of constructing mental representations but not solution plans; had inappropriate approaches and strategies; exhibited structural errors relating to a disregard of given…

An alternative procedure to the draw-a-scientist test (DAST) was used to uncover students ideas about science, scientists, and technology. A series of illustrations (based on the interview-about-instances (IAI) procedure) concerned with appearance, gender, work place, and employment were developed. Through interviews, students (n=121) responded to…

An intervention study with 12- to 13-year-old students which attempts to move students' thinking about matter and the dissolving process toward the school science view by use of activities and group discussion tasks which directly address some of the thinking underlying students' prior ideas is described. Students responses to the strategies…

Reviews research relevant to the problem of unsatisfactory student problem-solving abilities and suggests a teaching strategy that addresses the issue. Author explains how she uses teaching aloud problem solving (TAPS) in college chemistry and presents evaluation data. Among the findings are that the TAPS class got fewer problems completely right,…

Discusses difficulties of examining Jean Piaget's work, caused in part by his own revisions and earlier, inadequate interpretation in English translation. Examines common misunderstandings of Piagetian developmental stages and similar misinterpretations of his ideas on education. Focuses on importance of other disciplines, including psychology and…

Discusses how student errors can be utilized to understand the nature of the conceptions that underlie students' mathematical activity. Looks at why errors are made in mathematics, how teachers and students perceive errors, and how to use errors in the classroom. (MDH)

Discusses the frequent misconception displayed by students that chromosome structure is a function of chromosome number or ploidy. Provides detailed analyses of the evidence concerning the prevalence of this ploidy/structure misconception among students of introductory genetics and the potential sources for inaccurate communication that it can…

Typically, the mathematical properties concerning the golden ratio are stated correctly, but much of what is presented with respect to the golden ratio in art, architecture, literature, and aesthetics is false or seriously misleading. Discussed here are some of the most commonly repeated misconceptions promulgated, particularly within mathematics…

To determine how middle school students cope with the demands of arithmetic word problems, 140 eighth graders (67 males and 73 females) had to solve problems modeled after those of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Extraneous information and extra steps reduce the accuracy of students' word problem solutions. (SLD)

Two key assumptions of conventional test design--the compartmentalization of knowledge and the decontextualization of knowing--are false. Because competent performance requires both context and judgment, it is senseless to test for mastery as an unvarying response to unambiguous stimuli. Test-makers must link their tests to the tasks, contexts,…

The errors and strategies made by students who consistently use the incorrect-addition strategy on "hard" ratio tasks were investigated. The characteristics of these "adders," such as awareness of noninteger multiples, the use of fractions and decimals, awareness of both within and between ratios, and distinguishing nonratio…