Discussed are preservice elementary teachers' misconceptions and inconsistent beliefs about multiplication and division with decimals. Sources of inconsistencies and recommendations for overcoming inconsistencies are included. (KR)

The question of how children solve force and motion problems in computer simulations without explicit knowledge of the underlying physics was investigated. Keystroke sequences made by children were saved and analyzed, and children were interviewed to understand their perception of the relationship between keyboard input and on-screen action. (CW)

Reviews a college freshmen history seminar project in which students wrote, illustrated, and prepared a U.S. history textbook on the 1950s and 1960s. Reflecting on the resulting text, Ramsay questions whether students succumbed to the didactic fallacy; and cites a lack of cohesiveness, but praises the project's value as a teaching exercise. (LS)

States that students have misconceptions about the principles of mechanics internationally providing examples and two problems. Describes Nachtigall's program to train teachers and reports its application to classroom teaching. (YP)

Discusses some difficulties in teaching the concept of voltage to secondary school students. Presents and describes the content of a teaching sequence introducing voltage as a primary concept through relationships with other variables. Provides an example of the delivery of the teaching model. (YP)

Children's magical explanations and beliefs were investigated in two studies. Found that many four-year olds view magic as a plausible mechanism, yet reserve magical explanations for certain real world events that violate their causal expectations. Parents and culture at large may at first actively support magical beliefs whereas peers and schools…

Debunks two myths: the United States spends more on its schools than other nations; and money makes no difference in student achievement. The United States provides more school services than other countries do. Research shows a strong expenditure/academic-achievement correlation. Test scores rise when districts use money to reduce class size and…

Reviews the year in public education-bashing. Debunks columnist George Will's claims about teachers' preference for private schools, Willard Daggett's claims about youngsters' VCR programming skills, and two outrageous "Family Circle" and "Business Week" articles. Meanwhile, SAT scores are rising, school buildings are…

Investigated seven-year-old children's understanding of certain geographical terms. Found that children this age have considerable difficulty with some concepts and that even vernacular terms are often misunderstood. Results support the idea of children's alternative conceptions and suggest that, for teaching to be more effective, children's prior…

Misconceptions about educational testing and school assessment are ingrained in U.S. society and in the knowledge structure of educational professionals. Tests and assessments are highly ethnocentric, ignoring knowledge valued by many cultures. The article examines misconceptions and makes recommendations for an informed discourse on using testing…

Challenges the readers comprehension of mathematical induction by presenting four examples of arguments that misrepresent the concept. Discusses the reasons why the arguments lead to false conclusions. (MDH)

Described are the conceptions held by United States and Israeli students about multiplication and division that may impede their work with decimals. Included are the introduction, method, division and multiplication task results, and the implications for education and textbook development. (KR)

Identifies the unsophisticated assumptions and conjectures, both intuitive and empirical in character, underlying secondary school science students' (n=25) portrayal of scientific knowledge and its production. Structured interview protocols explored not only the students' substantive knowledge base but, perhaps more important, their ability to…

Presents teaching methods to rectify the tendency of students and even teachers to divide the smaller number into the larger in problem situations requiring division, while recognizing the impossibility of the answer in the situation. (MDH)

Reports on misconceptions held by intermediate grade students concerning chemistry textbook concepts, on the relation of reasoning ability to those misconceptions, and on the extent that textbooks encourage misconceptions. Concludes that the level of understanding displayed for the selected concepts, in combination with the nature of students'…