The first purpose was to develop a diagnostic test to investigate new anchoring and bridging analogies. Second one was to compare the effects of bridging analogies based instruction (BABI) versus traditional teaching method (TTM) on sophomore students&rsquo / misconceptions in Newton&rsquo / s Third Law (NTL). An Anchoring Analogy Diagnostic Test (AADT), Newton&rsquo / s Third Law Misconception Test (NTLMT), and Attitude Scale toward Newton&rsquo / s Third Law (ASNTL) were used as measuring tools. Unlike single analogies in each step as used in literature, the researcher introduced the group concept and developed the new style of concept diagrams after the first part. The second part was conducted with 308 students in the same department of the same public universities of previous year sample in 2006-2007. In the study, the instructors administered the NTLMT and ASNTL as a pretest. One instructor had randomly assigned one control and one experimental group, while the other instructor (researcher) had randomly assigned two groups. Experimental groups were instructed by the BABI while control groups were instructed by the TTM. After three-week treatment period, the same tests were given as posttests to both groups. The first part analyzed by using both Excel and SPSS indicated that the AADT was effective in diagnosing anchoring analogies, bridging analogies, and target cases. It was also easy to develop the new style of concept diagrams. The second part were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). According to the results, the BABI significantly remediate students&rsquo / misconceptions in the NTL with respect to the TTM. However, the BABI showed no significant effect on students&rsquo / attitudes toward the NTL with respect to the TTM.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of conceptual change based instruction accompanied by demonstrations (CCBIAD) and gender on 11th grade students&rsquo / understanding and achievement in rate of reaction concepts, and their attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject compared to traditionally designed chemistry instruction (TDCI). Sixty nine 11th grade students from two classes in a public high school in Ankara participated in this study in the Fall Semester of 2008-2009. These classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. In the control group TDCI was used, while in the experimental group CCBIAD was used as instructional methods. Rate of Reaction Concept Test, Rate of Reaction Achievement Test, and Attitude Scale toward Chemistry were administered to both groups as pre-tests and post-tests to assess students&rsquo / understanding of rate of reaction concepts, achievement in these concepts, and attitudes toward chemistry, respectively. Science Process Skills Test was given at the beginning of the study to control students&rsquo / science process skills. After treatment six students from each group were interviewed to determine their misconceptions about rate of reaction. The hypotheses were tested by using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Two-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results show that CCBIAD used a significantly better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to rate of reaction than TDCI. In addition, there was a significant effect of CCBIAD on students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry. There was no significant effect of gender on both students&rsquo / understanding of rate of reaction concepts and their attitudes toward chemistry.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied with analogies on eight grade students&rsquo / understanding of chemical bonding concepts. In addition, the effect of instruction on students&rsquo / attitude toward science as a school subject and the effect of gender difference on understanding of chemical bonding concepts were investigated. Fifty eight-grade students from two classes of a science course taught by the same teacher in B&uuml / y&uuml / kel&ccedil / i Nazim Belger Primary School in the 2010-2011 spring semesters participated in the study. The study included two groups which were selected randomly throughout three classes. One of the groups was defined as control group in which students were instructed by traditionally designed science instruction, while other group was defined as experimental group in which students were instructed by conceptual change texts oriented instruction accompanied with analogies. Chemical Bonding Concept Pre-Test was administered to both groups as a pre-test and Chemical Bonding Concept Post-Test was administered to both groups as a post-test in order to assess their understanding of concepts related to chemical bonding. Students were also given Attitude Scale Towards Science as a School Subject at the beginning and end of the study to determine their attitudes and Science Process Skill Test was used at the beginning of the study to measure their science process skills. The hypotheses were tested by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicated that instruction based on constructivist approach caused a significantly better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to chemical bonding and produced significantly higher positive attitudes toward science as a school subject than the traditionally designed science instruction. Also, science process skill was a strong predictor in understanding the concepts related to chemical bonding. On the other hand, no significant effect of gender difference on understanding the concepts about chemical bonding and students&rsquo / attitudes toward science as a school subject was found.

<p>A qualitative descriptive study approach was used to gather the required information. The sample for this study was drawn from an existing group of volunteers who participated in the vaccine trial at Mbeya Medical Research Centre in 2006-2007. A purposive sampling method was used to select respondents because they had had experience of being participants in a HIV vaccine trial. Twenty audio recorded in-depth interviews were conducted. The interviews were conducted at the clinic during their routine follow up visits. An open ended interview guideline was used to guide the discussion to elicit the required information from the respondents. The data was transcribed, translated and then analyzed by both content and thematic approach. Ethical procedures were observed, including getting permission from the local ethical committee in Mbeya region and participants were given an informed consent form to read and sign before starting the interview.</p>

The main purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of instruction based on constructivist approach over traditionally designed chemistry instruction on ninth grade students&amp / #65533 / understanding of chemical bonding concepts. In addition, the effect of instruction on students&amp / #65533 / attitude toward chemistry as a school subject and the effect of gender difference on understanding of chemical bonding concepts were investigated. Forty-two ninth grade students from two classes of a chemistry course taught by the same teacher in METU Development Foundation Private School 2000-2001 spring semester were enrolled in the study. The classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Students in the control group were instructed by traditionally designed chemistry instruction whereas students in the experimental group were taught by the instruction based on constructivist approach. Chemical Bonding Concept Test was administered to both groups as a pre-test and post-test in order to assess their understanding of concepts related to chemical bonding. Students were also given Attitude Scale Toward Chemistry as a School Subject at the beginning and end of the study to determine their attitudes and Science Process Skill Test at the beginning of the study to measure their science process skills. The hypotheses were tested by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicated that instruction based on constructivist approach caused a significantly better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to chemical bonding and produced significantly higher positive attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject than the traditionally designed chemistry instruction. In addition, science process skill was a strong predictor in understanding the concepts related to chemical bonding. On the other hand, no significant effect of gender difference on understanding the concepts about chemical bonding and students&amp / #65533 / attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject was found.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of CCTIA over TDCI for 9th grade students&rsquo / understanding of chemical bonding concepts. Also, the effect of instruction on students&rsquo / attitude toward chemistry as a school subject and the effect of gender difference on understanding of chemical bonding concepts and attitudes toward chemistry were investigated. The subjects of this study consisted of 41 ninth grade students from two classes of a chemistry course in TED Ankara High School. This study was conducted during the 2003-2004-spring semester. The classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Students in the control group were instructed by TDCI whereas students in the experimental group were instructed by CCTIA. CBCT was administered to both groups as a pre-test and post-test in order to assess their understanding of concepts related to chemical bonding. Students were also given ASTC as a school subject at the beginning and end of the study to determine their attitudes and SPST at the beginning of the study to measure their science process skills. At the end of the study, we administered interviews to the students. The hypotheses were tested by using ANCOVA and ANOVA. The results revealed that CCTIA caused a significantly better understanding of scientific conceptions related to chemical bonding concepts than the TDCI. In addition, these two modes of instruction developed the similar attitude toward science as a school subject. Also, science process skill was a strong predictor in understanding the concepts related to chemical bonding. Alternatively, no significant effect of gender difference on understanding the concepts about chemical bonding and on students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject was found.

The main purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied with cooperative group work and traditionally designed instruction for removing misconceptions related to acid-base concepts. In this study 33 tenth grade students from two classes from METU Development Foundation Private School in the spring semester of 2003-2004 participated. There were two groups in the study. Students in experimental group received conceptual change oriented instruction with cooperative group work, and students in control group received traditionally designed instruction over a period of six weeks. Acid-Base Concept Test was administered to both groups as pre- and post-test. Students were also received Science Process Skill Test to determine their science process skills as pre-test and Attitude Scale Toward Chemistry to measure their attitudes toward chemistry as pre- and post-test. The hypotheses were tested by t-test, ANCOVA, and ANOVA. The results showed that the students in experimental group had significantly higher scores with respect to achievement related to acid-base concepts than the students in control group. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between attitude mean scores of students in experimental and control groups. Also, science process skill was a strong predictor for the achievement related to acid-base concepts. Alternatively, there was no significant difference between girls and boys in terms of understanding of acid-base concepts and attitudes toward chemistry. Alternatively, there was no significant interaction between gender and treatment on understanding of acid-base concepts and attitudes toward chemistry.

The main purpose of this study was to develop a three-tier test for assessing ninth-grade students&rsquo / misconceptions about simple electric circuits. The first tier of an item on the test presents an ordinary multiple choice question, the second tier presents a set of reasons for the response given to the first tier, and the third tier questions if examinees are confident for their responses to the first two tiers. The study was carried in Polatli, the biggest outlying district of capital Ankara. In the light of the related literature, interviews were conducted by the researcher so as to collect information about students&rsquo / understanding of simple electric circuits. Thereby, a list of misconceptions was acquired and it was used for developing an open-ended questionnaire. Next, the questionnaire was examined by two physics teachers and an instructor from METU for establishing content validity. The questionnaire was administered to 99 ninth-grade students and their responses were categorized in the purpose of determining the distracters of the three-tier test / the Simple Electric Circuit Diagnostic Test (SECDT). At last, the SECDT was developed and administered to 124 ninth-grade students. The validity of the SECDT was established by means of quantitative methods in addition to the qualitative methods. A positive correlation coefficient was estimated between student scores and confidence levels, that is, successful students on the SECDT were more confident for their responses than unsuccessful students. This result means that the SECDT works properly, for example, students generally understood the items and found their reasoning among the distracters. Also, what items measure was investigated by means of factor analysis, and three reasonable factors were obtained. Furthermore, proportions of false positives and negatives were estimated and found as 17.47 % and 10.82 %, respectively. As well as, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of student scores was estimated as 0.69, but the reliability coefficient of student misconception scores was estimated as 0.33. Consequently, the SECDT scores are valid and reliable measure of students&rsquo / qualitative understanding of simple electric circuits / however, misconception scores may not be reliable.

The main purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions and traditionally designed science instruction on 7th grade students&rsquo / understanding of chemical and physical changes and classification of matter concepts and attitudes toward science as a school subject. In this study 102 seventh grade students from four classes of a Science Course instructed by the two teachers from ODT&Uuml / G.V. &Ouml / zel ilk&ouml / gretim Okulu took part. One of the classes of each teacher was randomly assigned as experimental group, which were instructed with cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions and the other classes were assigned as control group, which were instructed traditionally. This study was conducted during the 2004-2005 fall semester over a period of four weeks. In this study, to examine the effect of the treatment on dependent variables / science achievement related to chemical and physical changes and classification of matter concepts measured with Classification and Changes of Matter Concepts Test, and science attitude scores measured with Attitude Scale Toward Science as a school subject. Science Process Skills Test was used at the beginning of the study to determine students&rsquo / science process skills. ANCOVA and ANOVA were used testing the hypotheses of the study. The results showed that the cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions group had a significantly higher scores with respect to achievement related to chemical and physical changes and classification of matter concepts than the traditionally designed science instruction group. However, there is no significant difference between the mean scores of cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions group and traditionally designed science instruction group with respect to attitudes toward science as a school subject. Science process skills were a strong predictor for the achievement related to chemical and physical changes and classification of matter concepts. It may be useful to use the results of this study and instruments and strategies developed for this study for classroom teachers in order to help students to reduce or eliminate their misconceptions.

O aprendizado é o resultado desejado do processo educacional. Quando um aluno é exposto a determinadas experiências de ensino e oportunidades de aprendizagem de vários conhecimentos durante um período e, ao final de todo o processo, não aprender sequer os conhecimentos mínimos ou conceitos fundamentais daquele curso é um exemplo de não aprendizado. O não aprendizado dos alunos do curso de graduação em Ciências Contábeis pode ser de-duzido pelo baixo índice de aprovação em todas as edições do Exame de Suficiência, reali-zado pelo Conselho Federal de Contabilidade - CFC. A proposta de pesquisa é aprofundar o entendimento dos erros cometidos pelos egressos que acarretam na reprovação em massa no Exame de Suficiência, com o intuito de classifi-cá-los e verificar se são padrões de erros conceituais em Contabilidade, buscando evidên-cias de que eles ocorrem com frequência, intensidade, recorrência e persistência. A base de dados dos Exames de Suficiência não pôde ser compartilhada pelo CFC, então adaptamos a pesquisa aos relatórios disponíveis do ENADE, exame nacional aplicado em larga escala também para os concluintes do curso de graduação em Ciências Contábeis. Foi feita uma análise minuciosa das questões dos ENADES de 2006 e 2009 que tiveram uma concentração de escolha pelos avaliados em uma das alternativas erradas, podendo superar a concentração da alternativa correta. Separamos as questões que tiveram este tipo de padrão de erro, combinamos com a per-cepção dos professores entrevistados e com a validação de professores consultores e sele-cionamos quinze questões que possuem padrões de erros conceituais em ao menos uma de suas alternativas. Estas questões foram respondidas por alunos ingressantes e concluintes de três Instituições de Ensino, para verificarmos a confirmação ou não dos padrões de erros conceituais. É um padrão de erro conceitual, se há maior concentração de escolha na alternativa con-tendo este tipo de erro, que competirá com a alternativa correta, revelando sua intensidade. A escolha será similar entre ingressantes e concluintes, indicando sua persistência, mesmo após o aluno ter sido exposto ao conteúdo durante o curso de graduação. Entre os demais tipos de erros, os padrões de erros conceituais são mais frequentes e per-meiam disciplinas diversas, por serem conceitos fundamentais para o entendimento da Contabilidade. O resultado é um forte indício da existência de um padrão de erro conceitual, que é a con-fusão entre os conceitos de regime de caixa e de competência. Esses conceitos são basila-res, não sendo admissível que o egresso do curso de graduação em Ciências Contábeis co-meta tais erros. O cálculo e raciocínio matemático permeiam os padrões de erros conceituais e a resolução de boa parte dos exercícios de todas as avaliações citadas nesse trabalho. São um padrão de erro, geralmente relacionados às quatro operações básicas de matemática: soma, subtração, divisão e multiplicação; o que também não é admissível para alunos que foram selecionados para ingressar em um curso superior e que saem ainda com estas deficiências. / The learning is the desired outcome of the educational process. When a student is exposed to certain learning experiences and opportunities for learning, and several skills during a period and at the end of the whole process, not learning even the minimum knowledge and fundamental concepts that course is an example of not learning. The non-student learning in the undergraduate program in accounting can be deduced by low approval ratings in all editions of Exame de Suficiência, realized by the Federal Ac-counting Council - CFC. The research proposal is to deepen the understanding of the errors committed by graduates who lead in the reprobation mass in the Exame de Suficiência, in order to classify them-here and check patterns are conceptual errors in Accounting, seeking evidences that they occur with frequency, intensity, persistence and recurrence. The database of the Exame de Suficiência could not be shared by the CFC, and we has to adapt the research reports available in the ENADE exam, a national test applied on a large scale also for graduating undergraduate in Accounting. We conducted a thorough analysis of the issues of ENADES 2006 and 2009 that had a concentration of choice for one of the alternatives evaluated in the wrong, and can over-come the concentration of the correct alternative. Separate the questions that had this type of pattern error, combined with the perception of the teachers interviewed and validated with teacher consultants, we selected fifteen questi-ons that have patterns of conceptual errors in at least one of its alternatives. These questions were answered by students in three educational institutions to verify the confirmation or not of patterns of conceptual errors. It\'s a misconception, if there is a higher concentration of an alternative choice in having this type of error, which will compete with the correct alternative, revealing its intensity. The choice will be similar between freshmen and indicating its persistence even after the student has been exposed to the content during the undergraduate degree. Among the other types of errors, misconceptions are more frequent and are related with diverse disciplines, because they are fundamental concepts for the understanding of Ac-counting. The result is a strong indication of the existence of a pattern of conceptual error, which is the confusion between the concepts of system of cash and accrual. These concepts are es-sential is not acceptable that the graduates of undergraduate degree in Accounting commit such errors. The calculation and mathematical reasoning pervade patterns of conceptual errors and resolution of most of the exercises all reviews quoted in this work. Are one standard error, usually related to the four basic math operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, which is also not permissible for students who were selected to join a college and leaving even with these shortcomings.