We investigate how students connect explanations and arguments from evidence about plant growth and metabolism--two key practices described by the "Next Generation Science Standards". This study reports analyses of interviews with 22 middle and high school students postinstruction, focusing on how their sense-making strategies led them…

In the present study we used the technique of word association tests to assess students' cognitive structures during the learning period. In particular, we tried to investigate what students living near a protected area in Greece (Dadia forest) knew about the phenomenon of decomposition. Decomposition was chosen as a stimulus word because it…

The aim of this paper is to highlight and discuss advantages and constraints of different methods applied within the field of children's thinking studies, through the test of the repeated question hypothesis validity, using the conservation of liquid task. In our perspective, the Piagetian interview is an ecologically valid context for…

Providing sustainable mobility is a major challenge that will require new vehicle and fuel technologies. Alternative and future fuels are the subject of considerable research and public interest. A simple approach is presented that can be used in science education lectures at the high school or undergraduate level to provide students with an…

Leaders and citizens of the next generation will have to do more with less. There will be fewer natural resources (e.g., less timber and less biodiversity), and the world's population will be greater. As a result, education must equip the students of today with the skills they need to cope with change, uncertainty, and complexity. This type…

This dissertation focused upon non-formal and informal learning practices and knowledge production amongst [adult] participants involved in local sea turtle conservation practices along the US Atlantic coast. In the United States, adult learning and adult education has historically occurred within non-formal settings (e.g., through community-based…

In the United States, 21% of all energy is used in residential buildings (40% of which is for heating and cooling homes). Promising improvements in residential building energy efficiency are underway such as the Building America Program and the Passive House Concept. The ability of improving energy efficiency in buildings is enhanced by building…

The first recorded experiments describing the phenomena made popular by Newton's cradle appear to be those conducted by Edme Mariotte around 1670. He was quoted in Newton's "Principia," along with Wren, Wallis, and Huygens, as having conducted pioneering experiments on the collisions of pendulum balls. Each of these authors concluded that momentum…

The phenomenon of recoil is usually explained to students in the context of Newton's third law. Typically, when a projectile is fired, the recoil of the launch mechanism is interpreted as a reaction to the ejection of the smaller projectile. The same phenomenon is also interpreted in the context of the conservation of linear momentum, which is…

An interesting, quick, and inexpensive lab that we do with our students is to tape one end of a string just less than halfway around the back side of a uniform solid cylinder m[subscript 1] and attach the other end of the string to a mass m[subscript 2] that is below a pulley (Fig. 1). Data can be collected using either an Ultra Pulley (Fig. 2) or…

This article establishes the level of skills and experience in preservation and conservation management using a case study methodological approach conducted in the 3 university libraries at the University of Zambia. The findings revealed that 20 (57%) of the library staff had not received formal training in preservation and conservation of library…

Extension services face an increasing challenge as the state of Australia's environment declines. It is, therefore, opportune to explore some innovations in the way extension is traditionally delivered. This paper introduces the concept of the visual and performing arts being useful in extension of natural resources management issues such as land…

This article describes some aspects of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. It highlights the importance of giving young children specific access to explore conservation in measurement, which will give students invaluable experiences in measurement that in years to come will be regarded as their prior knowledge of the concept. This is…

Many experimenters, starting with Ernst Mach in 1883, have reported that if a device alternately sucks in and then expels a surrounding fluid, it moves in the same direction as if it only expelled fluid. This surprising phenomenon, which we call "Machian propulsion", is explained by conservation of momentum: the outflow efficiently transfers…

This paper explores the use of "conservation of life" as a concept and unifying theme for increasing awareness, application, and integration of process safety in chemical engineering education. Students need to think of conservation of mass, conservation of energy, and conservation of life as equally important in engineering design and analysis.…