The biological community is currently undertaking one its greatest scientific endeavours, that of constructing the Tree of Life, a phylogeny intended to be an evidenced-based, predictive road map of evolutionary relationships among Earth's biota. Unfortunately, we know very little about how such diagrams are understood, interpreted, or used…

Nowadays, outreach labs are important informal learning environments in science education. After summarizing research to goals outreach labs focus on, we describe our evidence-based gene technology lab as a model of a research-driven outreach program. Evaluation-based optimizations of hands-on teaching based on cognitive load theory (additional…

The study of literature has many important benefits for students, but research shows that students often have difficulty interpreting literary texts, are unable to read critically, and are challenged to write interpretations that go beyond basic plot summary. This article provides a theoretical interpretation of the processes by which students…

Design strategies directly related to the development of instructional materials for rule learning were investigated. Findings indicated: 1) the degree of divergence between instances showed that contrasting, not matching, features resulted in better performance; and 2) two contextually similar rules learned simultaneously, not successfully,…

This research furthers our understanding of the relationship between an organismic factor, "cognitive style," and performance on concept learning and information processing tasks. These results, obtained from students in grades six, eight, and 10, indicate that not only do "high analytical" type students perform better on this…

Interviews 9th and 10th grade students (n=13) who studied an ecology unit and analyzed tape-recorded data for changes in organization of knowledge, represented by ideational networks and the development of higher cognitive operations. Provides insights into how students developed knowledge schemata, ideational networks, and the capacity to express…

Presents an exploratory study in which four students from each of grades 4, 6, 8, and 10 were interviewed individually on aspects of variation present in three settings. The first setting was an isolated random sampling situation whereas the other two settings were real world sampling situations. Identifies and describes four levels of responding…

The study reported investigated the role of memory aids in conjunctive and biconditional inductive processes of attribute-identification and rule-learning tasks, using 132 tenth grade students as subjects. Fifteen references are listed. (CHC)

Investigates the conceptual-change process in grade 10 students during a computer-supported physics unit. Finds that many students vacillated between alternative and scientific conceptions from one context to another during instruction, and those few students who did exhibit context-independent and stable conceptual change appeared able to accept…

This study investigates gender differences with regard to three factors of scientific literacy. The study involved students (N=772) in Grades 9 and 10. A 100-item multiple choice test based on National Science Education Standards was used to assess scientific literacy while gender differences were explored using analysis of variance procedures.…

A set of immediate memory-span tests, concept- and rule-learning tasks, and an IQ test were administered to adolescents. A color-form memory factor and IQ substantially predicted rule-learning proficiency. Effects of memory aids appeared to induce conceptual rules and serve as a base for rehearsing information. (Author/RD)

This study describes high school students' conceptual development of the basic astronomical phenomena during real-time interactions with a Virtual Solar System (VSS). The VSS is a non-immersive virtual environment which has a dynamic frame of reference that can be altered by the user. Ten 10th grade students were given tasks containing a set of…

For this study, the second in the cross sectional series, based on the Conceptual Learning and Development (CLD) model, assessment batteries were developed to determine each child's level of attainment and related use of the concepts "equilateral triangle,""cutting tool,""noun," and "tree." Batteries were…

For this study, the second in the cross sectional series, based on the Conceptual Learning and Development (CLD) model, assessment batteries were developed to determine each child's level of concept attainment and also the related use of the concepts "equilateral triangle,""cutting tool,""noun," and "tree."…