Graphs illustrating complex scientific relationships require students to integrate multiple concepts and visual features into a coherent understanding. We investigate ways to support students in integrating their understanding of density concepts through a graph that is linked to a simulation depicting the relationship between mass, volume, and…

Powerful online visualizations can make unobservable scientific phenomena visible and improve student understanding. Instead, they often confuse or mislead students. To clarify the impact of molecular visualizations for middle school students we explored three design variations implemented in a Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) unit on…

"Science Learning and Instruction" describes advances in understanding the nature of science learning and their implications for the design of science instruction. The authors show how design patterns, design principles, and professional development opportunities coalesce to create and sustain effective instruction in each primary scientific…

Reported is a study to investigate the effects of a free-choice program on children's ability to interpret experiments, design simple investigations, and recognize variables that could affect the outcome of observed events. (Author/SA)

A developmental investigation of the ability to control variables was conducted. One or two logically similar physics problems were individually administered to 120 subjects age 12 to 14. The problems involved either familiar or unfamiliar variables. Each problem was presented in three different informational formats. Success on the problems in…

Describes the use of a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) in teaching the concepts of heat and temperature to eighth grade students. Discusses the advantages of being able to instantly display the results of their experimentation with the use of temperature and light probes, and heat pulsors. (TW)

Contrasts spontaneous and reflective knowledge integration instruction delivered using a computer learning environment to enhance understanding of displaced volume. Distinguishes the impact of instruction on students who believed scientific phenomena are governed by principles (cohesive beliefs) versus students who believed that science is a…

Research offers important suggestions concerning science curriculum design, and real-time data collection technology offers great opportunities. This paper discusses how recent increases in understanding the nature of the learner and the process of instruction combined with recent advances in technology might lead to improved science instruction.…

This document discusses the relation between adolescents' expertise (their informational background, which can be accurate or inaccurate, about a particular task or subject) and their formal operational reasoning, and reports the results of three studies of the effects of children's expertise on reasoning. In Study I, adolescents from a rural…