A study examined the role that an elaborate analogy can play when high school students learn a concept from a leading science textbook. The elaborate analogy had graphic and text components that integrated and mapped key features from the analogy (a factory) to the target concept (an animal cell). The target features were parts of the cell and, by…

The data for this study were obtained from a sample of 117 biology majors enrolled in an introductory biology course. The Diffusion and Osmosis Diagnostic Test, composed of 12 two-tier items, was administered to the students. Among the major findings are: (1) there was no significant difference in scores of male and female students; (2) math…

Most students enter their first formal science courses with intelligently conceived and sophisticated concepts of science. Some of these may be compatible with the principles of modern science, but others may be incorrect, inadequate, outdated, or otherwise unacceptable. Conceptual frameworks based on intuitive misperceptions, naive inferences,…

Students come to the classroom with theories that they have actively constructed from their everyday experiences. However, some of these theories are incomplete half-truths. Although such misconceptions interfere with new learning, students are often emotionally and intellectually attached to them. Some common mathematical misconceptions involve:…

The purpose of this study was to: (1) investigate the relationship between the learning approaches of high school students, their prior knowledge, and their attitudes toward chemistry, and their performance on a misconceptions test; and (2) describe and analyze the differences between the responses of students of different learning approaches on…

This paper analyzes the misconceptions high school students have about force and suggests that the misunderstanding of Newton's third law is the key to these misconceptions. Clinical interview and diagnostic test data (N=104) indicates that many students have a naive view of force as an acquired or innate property of single objects rather than…

Results of the most recent administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) suggest that the majority of secondary students believe in the independence of random events. In the study reported here, a high percentage of high school and college students answered similar problems correctly. However, about half of the students…

An investigation derived from the logico-structural theory of world view was conducted for the purpose of examining the relationship between science interest and variations in the causal universal within college students' world views. This required the development of a special pen-and-paper instrument for detecting worldview variations in the…

This paper examines work in eliciting conceptions of light and vision that are held by naive learners and about some promising instructional strategies that emerge from this work. Naive learners are defined as subjects that have not had formal exposure to the physics of light, particularly elementary school children who were interviewed in the…

A recent study (Liu, 2005a, 2005b) revealed a limited number of alternative models of the universe held by young students in Taiwan and in Germany. In line with the previous findings, these alternative models frequently fall into two groups: earth-centred and sun-centred views, which draw a correspondence to the ideas in the European history of…

This paper reports a preliminary study on in-service Additional mathematics teachers' knowledge of kinematics concepts. A survey consisting of TRUE/FALSE questions was issued to the participating teachers. The questions were collations of the common misconceptions identified by some local Physics teachers among the local Physics students. The…

Educational and business literature affirms the importance and value of creativity. Unfortunately, this knowledge is not always presented in a manner that is useful to online instructors who want to integrate more reflective lessons into their courses. The discussion will provide vital background information on creativity and offer relevant…

Addresses the importance of recognizing the prior knowledge and misconceptions of science educators. Provides perspectives on the nature of knowledge, conceptions of learning, nature of science and of teaching, and the relationship between general principles of learning and teaching. (ML)

Discussion of problems students have with learning about Newtonian dynamics and kinematics focuses on the assumption that learning is promoted through confronting students with their own misconceptions. A computer-based modelling environment--DYNLAB--is explained, and a study conducted with high school boys in Scotland to test it is described. (29…

Discusses the difficulties that some students have in understanding the concept of chemical reactions. Proposes that instructors try to consider the various difficulties during a chemistry course when students form their concepts of element conservation. (TW)