The scientific community has been debating climate change for over two decades. In the light of certain arguments put forward by the aforesaid community, the EU has recommended a set of innovative reforms to science teaching such as incorporating environmental issues into the scientific curriculum, thereby helping to make schools a place of civic…

The paper deals with physics teaching/learning in high school. An investigation in three upper secondary school classes in Italy explored the reactions of students to a structuring lecture on optics within the discipline-culture (DC) framework that organises physics knowledge around four interrelated fundamental theories of light. The lecture…

The current study used social cognitive theory as a framework to investigate self-reported homophobic aggressive behavior at school. Participants included 863 students of 49 classes, enrolled in Grades 9-13 in 10 Italian public high schools. The results from the multilevel mediation model (1-2-1) showed that class-level homophobic attitudes toward…

This article reports a theoretically based study on the model of development of epistemological understanding proposed by Kuhn (2000) [Kuhn, D. (2000). Theory of mind, metacognition, and reasoning: A life-span perspective. In P. Mitchell & K. J. Riggs (Eds.), "Children's reasoning and the mind" (pp. 301-326). Hove, UK: Psychology…

This study investigated conceptions of knowledge and beliefs among 242 Italian and 231 American college students. Perceptions of the nature and interrelation of knowledge and beliefs, and prevalent characterizations and sources of these two constructs were explored by qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Differences emerged between Italian…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…