Points out the important use of textbooks and their ancillary resources in lower-division chemistry courses and the scientific misconceptions found in them. Introduces the TextRev Project which is a new resource for data collection and analysis. Investigates how first and second year chemistry students use and value their textbooks and their study…

Investigates the cognitive and linguistic demands of learning algebra and explores students' understanding of algebraic notation. Findings indicate specific origins of misinterpretation that include intuitive assumptions and pragmatic reasoning about a new notation, analogies with familiar symbol systems, interference from new learning in…

The Indian Specific Health Risk Appraisal and measures assessing beliefs about health risks were completed by 200 Northern Plains urban American Indians. Participants rated personal risk optimistically, judged their risk factor standing as lower than peers', and were not changing behaviors related to acknowledged personal risks. Such biases may…

Reports on a simple classroom exercise that investigates whether students' beliefs of what they think should happen influences their measurements. The exercise also provides a framework for discussing the challenges that human belief systems bring to the discipline of using the scientific process. Results suggest that students' preconceived…

Points out that pupils often misunderstand the concepts of accuracy and reliability. Introduces a course in which students are involved in a two-week practical project that emphasizes checking anomalous points, improving accuracy, and making readings more sensitive. Describes the process of teaching students how to prepare their projects.…

Focuses on the conceptual understanding held by (n=78) preservice elementary teachers about moon phases before and after instruction. Compares instructive effect between two groups--inquiry-based physics instruction and no instruction. Reports that without the instruction, most preservice teachers were likely to hold alternative conceptions of the…

Suggests teaching strategies for overcoming the lack of student understanding of the principles of the bubble photometer by helping students compare the bubble photometer with the weighing method, develop the concept of assumptions, and resolve cognitive conflicts. Uses an interactive activity to help students expose their preconceptions.…

Presents a variety of examples of wrong proofs, misinterpreted definitions, and the mistaken use of theory. Examples are based on experience teaching mathematics to engineering students. Includes elementary examples and more advanced ones taken from different subjects. (Author)

Compares resistance by scientists to new ideas in scientific discovery with students' resistance to conceptual change in scientific learning. Studies the resistance by students to abandoning their misconceptions concerning scientific topics and the resistance by scientists to scientific discovery. (Contains 64 references.) (Author/YDS)

Refutes myths about adult learners: (1) adults require less instructor time; (2) adults desire to return to school; (3) adults are capable decision makers; (4) adults bring valuable experiences to the classroom; and (5) adults know what they want. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Describes a study that explored the parameter-related misconceptions of two college students in an introductory programming course. Explains how they were able to construct correctly functioning modular programs by making adjustments to formal parameter lists; discusses results within a constructivist framework; and suggests implications for…

An updated version of a 1956 questionnaire concerning misconceptions about mental retardation was administered to 558 individuals. The relations of demographic, experiential, and contact characteristics of 1986 respondents were explored as were comparisons with the 1956 sample. (Author/DB)

Twelve literacy goals include new attitude toward illiteracy; clarification of the concept; articulated child-adult strategy; attention to women's needs; updating the field; attention to pedagogy; a literate environment; quality; better data; attention to preschool literacy; literacy in the context of basic education; and international cooperation…

Analysis of (n=92) university students' construction of visual representations (Venn diagrams) of eight set expressions found competent and error-prone students constructed and used procedures to complete set translation tasks, and two-thirds of observed errors arose from consistent implementation of ill-formed procedures. (Author/MKR)

Contends that the role of mistakes and corrections of mistakes in classroom practice reveals a certain philosophy of mathematics and that the way mistakes are handled promotes such an implicit philosophy. (MKR)