<p><font size="3"> <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties encountered by the grade ten township learners with respect to the concept of electricity. More specifically, the study attempted to explore the learners&rsquo / scientific knowledge by investigating their conceptions or alternative conceptions about electricity / the influence of learners&rsquo / age, career interests and gender issues on their conceptions of electricity and / the effectiveness of concept mapping (a pedagogic tool designed by Novak in the 1970s) in facilitating the learners&rsquo / understanding of electricity. The study was premised on socio-cultural constructivism as well as meaningful learning as espoused by Ausubel (1968). A Pre-Test-Post-Test Control Group Design was adopted in the study in which two comparable groups were used. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the instruments that were used included a conception of electricity (COET) (originally adopted and administered in the Western Cape, Northern Cape provinces and in Norway in 1999 for the purpose of Science and Technology Literacy Project (STLP) with the hope that their reliability and validity was guaranteed) / selected learner interviews and evaluation forms. The summary of findings has suggested that the Grade ten learners held misconceptions about the concept of electricity even after they were exposed to intervention that included concept mapping. In terms of the gender issues, there was no significant difference in performance between the boys and girls though the females outperformed their male counterparts at both groups. The underachievement of the older learners compared to the younger ones has also surfaced and that is against expectation since a number of studies carried out earlier (see Ogunniyi (1999)) have already corroborated such findings. With respect to career interests, what the learners indicated as their future dreams, i.e. what they intend to do and become, seems to have been influenced their performance at the pre- and post-test stages.</p> </font></p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied by demonstrations and gender on tenth grade students&rsquo / understanding of gases concepts, and attitudes toward chemistry. Hundred tenth grade students from two classes taught by the same teacher in a public high school were enrolled in the study in the Fall semester of 2003-2004. Control group students were taught by traditionally designed chemistry instruction (TI), while experimental group students were instructed by conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied by demonstrations (CCID). Gases Concept Test and Attitude Scale toward Chemistry were administered to both groups as a pre-test and post-test to assess the students understanding of gases concepts and students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry, respectively. Science Process Skills Test was given at the beginning of the study to determine students&rsquo / science process skills. Learning Style Inventory was also given to all students to determine their learning styles. After treatment, interviews were conducted with the teacher and several students from the two groups. The hypotheses were tested by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that CCID caused significantly better acquisition of the scientific conceptions related to gases than TI. There was no significant effect of the treatment on the students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry. No significant effect of gender difference on students&rsquo / understanding the concepts about gases and students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry was found. Science process skill was determined as a strong predictor in understanding the concepts related to gases.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 5E learning cycle, conceptual change texts and traditional instruction on 8th grade students&amp / #8217 / understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Besides, the effect of instruction on students&amp / #8217 / attitudes toward science as a school subject was investigated. One hundred and one, 8th grade students from three classes of one elementary school in Ankara attended in this study. This study was carried out during the fall semester of 2003-2004 academic year. The classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Students in the first experimental group (n=33) received 5E learning cycle based instruction, the second experimental group (n=34) received conceptual change text based instruction and students in the control group (n=34) received traditional instruction. Two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test, Photosynthesis and Respiration in Plants Concept Test, was used to determine students&amp / #8217 / understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. The test was administered to the sample of the study as pre- and post-test. Students&amp / #8217 / attitudes toward science and their reasoning abilities were measured by Attitude Scale Toward Science and Test of Logical Thinking respectively. The hypotheses of the study were tested by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results indicated that there were significant differences among the treatment groups with respect to their understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Both 5E learning cycle based instruction and conceptual change text based instruction were found effective to eliminate 8th grade students&amp / #8217 / misconceptions about photosynthesis and respiration in plants. The results also showed that there were no significant differences among the treatment groups with respect to attitudes toward science as a school subject.

The main purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of the conceptual chance texts oriented instruction accompanied with analagoies over traditionally designed science instruction on 7th grade students&rsquo / understanding of atom, molecule, ion and matter concepts and their attitudes toward science as a school subject. In this study 70 seventh grade students from two classes of science course instructed by the same teacher from Battalgazi Elementary School took part. The study was conducted during 2004-2005 fall semester. This study included two groups which were selected randomly throughout five clasesses. One of the group was defined as control group in which students were taught by traditionally designed science instruction, while other group defined as experimental group in which students were instructed by conceptual chance texts oriented instruction accompanied with analogies (CCTI). Atom, Molecule, Ion and Matter Concepts Test (AMIMCT) was administered to both groups as a pre-test andpost-test and Attitudes Scale toward Science were administered as post-test to assesthe students understanding of atom, molecule, ion and matter concepts and students&rsquo / attitudes toward science as a school subject, respectively. The hypotheses were tested by using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that CCTI caused significantly better acquisition of the scientific conceptions related to atom, molecule, ion and matter concepts than TDSI. The result showed that there was no significant difference between test mean scores of students taught with CCTI and those taught with TDSI with respect to their attitudes toward science as a school subject.

The purpose of this study was to identify the relative predictive influences of prior knowledge, meaningful learning orientation, formal reasoning ability and mode of instruction on understanding in photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. Two hundred thirty three 8th grade students from six classes of one elementary school in Ankara participated in this study. The study was carried out during the 2004-2005 Fall semester. Students in the experimental group (N=117) received conceptual change instruction, and the students in the control group (N=116) received traditional instruction. Two-tier multiple choice diagnostic test, &ldquo / Photosynthesis and Respiration in Plants Concept Test&rdquo / developed by Haslam and Treagust (1987), was used to determine students&rsquo / understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. The test was administered to the sample prior to the treatment as pre-test, and after the treatment as post-test. The pre-test scores were used as prior knowledge of students. Students&rsquo / reasoning abilities were measured by the &ldquo / Test of Logical Thinking&rdquo / and their learning orientations were measured by &ldquo / Learning Approach Questionnaire&rdquo / . The results of the study indicated that students held several misconceptions concerning photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. Significant differences between the experimental group and control group with respect to understanding of the concept were found in favor of experimental group. The main predictor of achievement in the experimental group was students&rsquo / prior knowledge, while it was reasoning ability in the control group. Meaningful learning orientation accounted for a small amount of variance in the experimental group but it did not contribute to understanding on post-test scores in traditional group.

This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of conceptual change text oriented instruction accompanied with analogies over traditional instruction on tenth grade students&rsquo / understanding of the acid and base concepts and attitude toward science as a school subject. In addition, effect of the gender difference and science process skills on students&rsquo / understanding of acid and base concepts and effect of gender difference on students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject were also investigated. Subjects of the study were fifty tenth grade students from the two chemistry classes of the same teacher from a public school at the center of Ankara. There were one experimental group and one control group. Two teaching methods used were randomly assigned to the already formed groups of the teacher. Experimental group received conceptual change oriented instruction by using conceptual change text accompanied with analogies and control group received traditional instruction over a period of four weeks. Acid and Base Conception Test and Attitude Scale Toward Chemistry were given to all groups as a pre-test and post-test. Science Process Skill Test was given to all groups at the beginning of the study to determine students&#039 / level of science process skills. At the end of the study, interviews were hold with randomly selected experimental and control group students from the medium achievement level to get an in-dept idea about the nature of the misconceptions related with the topic. ANOVA and ANCOVA were used to test the hypotheses of the study. The results showed that establishing an analogical thinking during the course of instruction together with a conceptual change text caused a better acquisition of scientific conceptions and elimination of misconceptions related with acid and base concepts as compared to the traditional instruction. Because, the students in the experimental group taking conceptual change oriented instruction performed much better in the post-test than the students in the control group taking the traditional instruction. However, the two modes of the instruction and gender difference did not indicate a significant contribution to students&rsquo / attitude toward chemistry as a school subject. Besides, results showed that science process skills of the students&#039 / could be a strong predictor for their achievement in acid and base concepts whereas there was no significant effect of gender difference on students&rsquo / understanding of acid and base concepts.

In this thesis I describe a study of how the science of genetics is transformed into school science in upper secondary level textbooks and the impact that this transformation has on students’ understanding. The didactic challenge that we face is to decide which science from the academic disciplines we should bring into schools.   Using the History and Philosophy of Science as my point of reference, I identified and categorized five multiple historical models of gene function: the Mendelian model, the classical model, the biochemical-classical model, the neoclassical model and the modern model. I then developed a research instrument to be used to analyse how these models are transformed within the educational system via textbooks. Biology and chemistry textbooks from Sweden, as well as a number from English speaking countries, were studied. The models used to describe gene function in the textbooks were investigated, as were the conceptual changes between the actual models and the way they are presented in textbooks. Finally I studied how the transformed science in textbooks is understood by students.   I found that all the multiple historical models were used implicitly in the textbooks. The older historical models were presented more frequently, resulting in a simplified and deterministic description of genetics. Throughout the textbooks a specific model was usually described in a particular subject matter context. The models used in the textbooks were usually hybrid models consisting of features from several of the historical models, thus creating incommensurability. The textbooks do not provide any epistemological foundations to facilitate readers’ understanding of the implications of multiple models. Furthermore my results show that, when reading the textbooks, students’ have difficulties in detecting the use of multiple models, incommensurability, and the conceptual changes that occur in a content-specific context such as gene function. Overall, students’ understanding of the use of multiple models, conceptual change, and incommensurability reflects the way in which they are depicted in the textbooks. Students’ domain-specific difficulties in understanding genetics might therefore be due to the way science is transformed into school science.     These findings indicate the importance of epistemological aspects in the transformation of science into school science, i.e. science as a way of knowing, not only for students’ understanding of the nature of science, but also for their understanding of the conceptual knowledge. The degree to which school science should mimic the academic discipline, as well as an understanding of what is lost in the transformation of science into school science, are key issues discussed in the thesis.

Concepções alternativas são compreensões não científicas estáveis e bastante resistentes a mudanças, forjadas pela experiência cotidiana dos indivíduos. Pesquisadores têm mobilizado esforços para entender como elas interagem com os conteúdos científicos presentes no contexto escolar e universitário. Tem ficado evidente que a mudança conceitual não depende apenas de processos puramente cognitivos. O ensino capaz de promover verdadeiramente uma mudança conceitual, deve integrar formas de aumentar o engajamento emocional dos estudantes, de modo que esta relação afetiva com o conhecimento faça com que suas crenças e pré-concepções sejam modificadas. Evidências tem demonstrado que processos cognitivos são fortemente influenciados tanto por aspectos racionais quanto emotivos. As emoções, por sua vez, são acompanhadas de marcadores somáticos, isto é, reações corporais fisiológicas, mediadas pelo sistema nervoso autônomo. Segundo alguns autores, elas são fundamentais nos processos de tomada de decisão. O presente estudo teve por objetivo desenvolver uma ferramenta para investigação do processo de mudança conceitual bem como aspectos fisiológicos desse processo. Para tanto, desenvolvemos um questionário que permite diferenciar biólogos de não-biólogos através de seu desempenho e identificamos 5 tipos diferentes de conceitos em biologia, quanto à sua compreensão e adoção. Avaliamos o vínculo afetivo que biólogos e não-biólogos possuem com concepções alternativas e científicas, através da resposta de condutância da pele. Verificamos que os não-biólogos apresentam maiores alterações na resposta de condutância da pele independentemente de estarem visualizando uma concepção alternativa ou científica. Mostramos, também, que questionários de resposta forçada, tão utilizados no ensino em geral, geram aumento da atividade eletrodérmica independentemente da formação do respondente, como uma possível resposta à condição de estresse / In students, misconceptions, or spontaneous conceptions, are comprehensions of natural phenomena forged by daily experience. These non-scientific viewpoints regarding the world are both solid and resistant to change. Besides the attempt to map misconceptions regarding a vast amount of natural phenomena, research in Science Education has also been dedicated to understanding how they interact with the scientific content in school and college programs. Some researchers have proposed that conceptual change is not dependent on purely rational processes. Evidence has shown that cognitive processes, such as perception, attention, learning, memory, decision-making, and problem resolution, are all strongly influenced by both rational aspects and emotional factors. Furthermore, the latter are accompanied by somatic markers, namely, corporal physiological reactions that act in the construction of emotional perceptive experiences. These markers are extremely important in the decision-making process, and it is hypothesized that before rationalizing a decision in terms of value analysis, they are instrumental in the unconscious reduction in the number of options that occurs. In this study, we developed a questionnaire that allows to differ biologists from non-biologists through its score and identified 5 different kinds of biological concepts, for their understanding and adoption. We evaluated the affective bonding that biologists and non-biologists have with the misconceptions and scientific conceptions, by its skin conductance response. We found that non-biologists presented higher skin conductance responses regardless of visualizing a misconception or a scientific conception. We showed that questionnaires with forced answer, so used in teaching, generates an increase on skin conductance responses, as a prospective response to stress condition

In this study, the effects of an explicit reflective intervention on Swaziland elementary preservice teachers’ understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) were investigated. The factors that had an impact on the development of participants’ NOS views were also investigated. The intervention made use of de-contextualized and contextualized activities as well as historical narratives as contexts for reflecting about the empirical, creative, subjective as well as the tentative NOS. The intervention included a discussion of the relationships and differences between observations and inferences as well as scientific laws and theories in the context of the aforementioned learning activities. Participants were 24 elementary pre-service teachers enrolled for their final year of their three year teacher development programme. An adapted version of the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire-Form C (VNOS-C) was used in conjunction with individual interviews, to assess the participants’ understanding of NOS at the beginning and conclusion of the intervention. At the end of the programme, data from interviews, concept maps and reflective journals of seven participants were analysed to ascertain their perceptions of the elements of the course and other factors that had an impact on their development of more informed NOS views. These participants were selected on the basis of their differential gains in NOS understanding. The data that was analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques revealed that the intervention brought about significant gains in some participants’ understanding of NOS. Information obtained from the document analysis of journals and concept maps as well as exit interviews of the selected group revealed that the pre-service teachers’ development of more informed views was mediated by motivational and cognitive factors. These were the participants’ perception of the value of teaching and learning NOS, their views about teaching and learning science, and their ability to engage deeply with the NOS concepts as well as their epistemic beliefs. The explicit reflective attention to NOS as well as metacognitive strategies was reported by most of the selected participants as responsible for changes in their NOS views. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

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