Disputes eight myths about special education relating to inclusion, including automatic individualization of instruction and negative effects of attending special classes, the potentially positive effects of eliminating labeling, and the neighborhood school's general education classroom as the least restrictive environment for all children.…

Disagrees with Mark Eblen's proposal that the costs of obtaining a college education should be tax deductible. College tuition is not closely analogous to other investments. Although federal subsidization of postsecondary education is desirable, a tax deduction is a poor delivery method. Government already provides subsidized state colleges,…

Imported from New Zealand in 1984, Reading Recovery currently operates in 9,800 schools nationwide. Now the much- touted program for teaching at-risk readers is facing questions about its effectiveness and cost. According to one researcher, Reading Recovery temporarily increases the rate of reading development but has little effect on developing…

Reports on a pilot study which sought to find out what 4- to 8-year-old rural Australian Aboriginal children think about night and day. Findings indicate more variations in thinking than were found in earlier research. Raises questions about the framing of cross-cultural research and the realization of indigenous data. Contains 40 references.…

Preservice elementary school teachers in Israel (n=608) answered questions about energy concepts. Results revealed the following: (1) many hold alternative conceptual frameworks, not accepted scientific concepts; (2) many do not accept the idea of energy conservation or degradation; (3) they confuse energy and force; and (4) they have an ambiguous…

Analyzes student performance on solution calorimetry problems in an introductory university chemistry class. Includes data from written classroom exams for 207 students and an extensive longitudinal interview with a student. Indicates learning difficulties, most of which appear to originate from failure to understand, that net increases and…

Develops an instrument for measuring secondary students' cognitive conflict levels as they learn science. Indicates that cognitive conflict consists of four constructs: (1) recognition of an anomalous situation; (2) interest; (3) anxiety; and (4) cognitive reappraisal of the conflict situation. Discusses implications for instruction and…

Reviews five methods of representing cognitive structures: (1) free word association; (2) controlled word association; (3) tree construction; (4) concept map; and (5) flow map. Discusses the applications as well as the limitations of these methods by comparing the types of analysis that are generated. (Contains 37 references.) (Author/YDS)

Uses student-constructed models to teach about the atom and its structure in order to achieve internalized understanding of the concept among students. (YDS)

Discussed is the importance of using scale drawings in teaching physics. Concepts including the orbit of the Space Shuttle, the smoothness of the earth's surface, the oblateness of the earth, the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, and the solar system are illustrated. (CW)

Discussed are problems revealed in student responses to a practical task which formed part of an advanced level examination. The frequencies with which some misconceptions about cell reproduction and genetics occurred are presented. The nature of these misconceptions is analyzed and their implications discussed. (CW)

Discussion of students' prior knowledge and its effect on analogical reasoning focuses on four case studies of high school and college students that were designed to determine factors important for success in overcoming misconceptions via analogical reasoning. Explanatory models are explained, and abstract transfer versus explanatory model…

Investigated are three misconceptions of probability and the differential effect of two activity-based instructional units. Response categories (law of averages, law of small numbers, and availability) are identified. Treatment differences (evaluation or no evaluation) appear to influence subjects' interpretations of the information. (YP)

Discussion of the development of educational software for reading instruction focuses on seven misconceptions that reflect a misunderstanding of the reading process and a misapplication of the principles of instructional design to the teaching of reading. Highlights include electronic text versus printed text; sound-symbol correspondence;…

Reports various misconceptions of Newton's third law obtained from interviews and written tests of high school students. Suggests putting emphasis on the third law in physics teaching. Ten references are listed. (YP)