Explores the extent to which presentations about multiplication and division involving decimals within three series of mathematics textbooks for grades three through eight help students to counter common learner misconceptions about multiplication and division. Results indicate that theory on conceptual change with its concomitant research have…

Questionnaire results indicate that, although first-year, undergraduate science students (n=109) recognize the correct sources of energy for organisms, they simultaneously hold misconceptions about other essential, but nonenergy-supplying, conditions as sources of energy supply. Occurrence rates for these misconceptions vary with the students'…

Interview data exemplify students' attempts to integrate the concepts of electrochemistry with related knowledge that they had previously constructed or acquired in other classes. The implications for minimizing potential misconceptions center on the difficulties students experience when using more than one model for explaining scientific…

The testing of a formal causal model of thinking about motion is described using a matching-pairs paper-and-pencil task. Subjects were asked to distinguish between examples of stereotypical motions by the similarity or difference of causes of pairs of motions. The results suggest that responses can be predicted by the model with the addition of an…

Describes two simple sets of demonstrations regarding Arrhenius Theory of acids and bases to help students to understand the nature of theories and why they often must be changed. (ZWH)

The bitter debate over the literary and historical canon has overshadowed the progress made in multicultural education during the last two decades. Detractors mistakenly believe that multicultural education is for victimized minorities and women, opposes the Western tradition, and will divide the nation. Teachers must integrate five knowledge…

Japanese students are tracked, not into different programs within a school, but into entirely different high schools--academic, vocational, and commercial--that educate them poorly. Virtually 100% of public school graduates would fail college entrance exams without the "juku," or cram school. Reforms are not imminent, since the current…

Curricular reform has had pitiful results. There are actually four curricula. Concentrating on the official and tested curricula, while ignoring the taught and learned curricula, diverts attention from more pressing policy issues such as inequitable funding allocations and persistent achievement gaps between richer and poorer students. The only…

What is striking about the Goals 2000 initiative is its virtual omission of the student, except as passive receptacle. To claim that students will learn more with heightened expectations is misleading. For content to take root, it must connect with students' internal "prepared structures" and become a "comfortable friend." In…

Experiences with an instructional strategy which enabled students to build for themselves the appropriate scientific concept for energy are described. This was done by pupil/teacher dialogue in small groups, in which students were expected to create for themselves a "generalization mechanism" based on their own frameworks. (KR)

Described is a way in which elementary science methods students experience the Generative Learning Model (GLM) from the learner's perspective and then analyze an activity about pendulums through the eyes of the pedagogue. The four phases of the GLM--preliminary, focus, challenge, and application--are discussed. (KR)

America 2000 presents an educational reform agenda that neglects the arts. Prevailing misconceptions of the arts are based on a massive misunderstanding of their role in human development and education. The arts contribute significantly by celebrating the value of multiple perspectives and nuances in problem solving, relating form to content, and…

Examines existing research and instructional design theories for guidelines that encourage a deep approach to learning, i.e., meaningful learning, critical thinking, or independent learning. Highlights include sequencing strategies and elaboration theory, linking concepts, student misconceptions, changing the attitudes of teachers, and projects…

Discusses a misconception about the cycloid that asserts the final point on the path of shortest time in the "Brachistochrone" problem is at the lowest point on the cycloid. Uses a BASIC program for Newton's method to determine the correct least-time cycloid. (MDH)

Discusses some misconceptions relating to location and to the earth's hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. Provides correction and explanation of various phenomena. Includes ocean names and sizes, sea level, coriolis effect, greenhouse effect, lightning, magma, and mass wasting. Suggests that myths can be dispelled by exposure combined with…