Deals with the problem of the proper interpretation of discourse between students and teachers in classrooms. Presents several interpretations of a concrete classroom protocol in terms of misconceptions. Draws on Davidson's principle of charity and distinguishes between belief and meaning to present an analysis that interprets the discourse…

Uses videotaped lectures and interviews to understand lectures in a physics course for prospective elementary teachers. Reports that the professor staged Aristotle, natural philosophy, and students' observations and intuitive knowledge in opposition to Galileo, controlled experiments, and mathematical inscriptions. Concludes that this form of…

Investigates the nature of small-group social interactions in the mediation of children's science learning. Reports that the teacher mediated the children's small-group science learning through discourse that negotiated children's status, actions, and meaning, as well as through discourse that established the normative structure of the small…

Describes a case study of the social construction of knowledge when undergraduate students are engaged in collaborative analysis of repertory grids produced by themselves and their instructor. Results indicate that this approach motivates students to be responsible for their own learning, allows students to communicate their understanding, and…

Describes a case study of an advanced physics class that analyzes the implications of using computerized journalizing. Reports that this technique provides a vehicle for students and teachers to make their knowledge public, builds an atmosphere for valuing the conceptual understanding of others, and mediates an ongoing dialog between the…

Presents and analyzes data focusing on how teacher and students moved between theory and data in a unit designed to engage seventh-grade students mostly in the deductive direction of scientific activity, and how the dialectic of education was played out in the classroom as teacher and students were engaged in the activity. Contains 29 references.…

Investigates Chinese-Australian students learning of chemistry. Reports that despite students' efforts to learn chemistry with understanding, difficulties in speaking and writing English were factors that limited performance. Suggests that learning can be facilitated when Limited English Proficiency students are provided with opportunities to…

Explores a possible model for the prediction of students' science achievement in China and the United States based on the ninth-grade database from Phase II of the Second IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Science Achievement) Science Study (SISS). Compares the structure of latent factors and model complexity between the two…

Draws on theories of student motivation to learn and conceptual change learning in science to describe patterns of student motivation observed in sixth-grade classrooms. Highlights the value of distinguishing motivation to learn from intrinsic motivation, and of distinguishing general motivational traits from situation-specific motivational…

Examines the social conscience of science teachers as it bears on the teaching of controversial issues. Explores teachers' perceptions of the teaching of controversial issues, the problem of handling personal value positions when dealing with issues, and the tension that exists between the teaching of controversial issues and traditional…

Discusses the National Science Foundation's Urban Systemic Initiative. Argues that educational policies and recommendations for educational reform in the absence of restructuring our social commitments to address oppression and poverty will be of little benefit to the many children who live under such circumstances. (JRH)

Describes the development of a coding scheme that represents students' ideas and its application to the analysis of interviews with urban students (n=8). Results indicate that decomposition is a linchpin concept for building an understanding of nutrient cycling, and ideas which relate to children's natural framework theories provide a generative…

Explores factors influencing teachers' (n=800) intentions to implement the 4 strands of the State of Ohio's Competency Based Science Model. Examines the influence of three constructs on teachers' intentions. Results indicate that the attitude toward the behavior construct had the greatest influence on Ohio teachers' intent to implement all four…

Investigates how computers and modeling software contributed to students' interactions and learning in a physics course. Results indicate that while computer environments have some potential as learning tools, they also limit interactions in significant ways, rendering them less than ideal for everyday classroom use. Contains 60 references.…

Discusses schematic modeling and describes an experiment in which Lebanese high school and college students participated in problem-solving tutorials that followed a schematic modeling approach. Results indicate that both groups improved significantly in problem-solving performance and the course achievement of students in the college group was…