Students' understanding of cloud and rainbow formation and teachers' awareness of students' performance

This study describes primary school students’ knowledge about rainfall, clouds and rainbow formation together with teachers’ predictions about students’ performance. In our study, primary school students’ (N?=?177) knowledge about rainfall and rainbow formation was examined using structured interviews with open-ended questions. Primary school teachers’ (N?=?110) awareness of students’ understanding was measured with questionnaires and the results will be discussed in relation to teaching experience and the use of different teaching practices. Our results show that students in every grade hold a wide-ranging set of misconceptions that reflect different combinations of their own understanding and learnt scientific knowledge. Teachers tended to overestimate students’ performance and described second-grade students’ knowledge more accurately than fourth- and sixth-grade students’ knowledge. Teachers with less teaching experience were found to less overestimate and more underestimate sixth-grade students’ knowledge than teachers with more teaching experience.     

Primary Teachers’ Literacy and Attitudes on Education for Sustainable Development

This paper reports on research concerning Greek in-service Primary teachers’ perceptions about environmental issues and attitudes towards Education for Sustainable Development. A questionnaire with multiple-choice and open-ended questions was used in order to gain more comprehensive understanding of their thoughts. The analysis of data revealed that teachers hold misunderstandings or misconceptions of the conceptual meaning of the terms “sustainability” and “renewable source of energy”. Furthermore, the implementation rate of environmental programs in schools is relatively low considering teachers’ interest in the issues. This is due to lack of familiarity with new methodological approaches which promote environmental matters. By taking into account these research findings, possible implications arising from supporting teachers to implement environmental programs in schools are discussed and suggestions for overcoming the outlined difficulties are made.     

Diagnosing misconceptions: Revealing changing decimal fraction knowledge

Conceptual change is a gradual process that occurs as students integrate new information into their existing conceptions. Throughout this process, assessing learning requires measures to diagnose misconceptions and understand how knowledge is changing. We developed three measures of misconceptions to assess students' knowledge early in instruction on decimals that measured the: 1) prevalence of misconception errors based on response patterns, 2) existence of misconceptions in a more abstract context, and 3) strength of misconceptions using confidence ratings. Students ages 9–11 (N = 297) completed the assessment at three time points. These measures revealed that whole number and role of zero misconceptions decreased and fraction misconceptions increased over time. The current measures also differentiated between weaker misconceptions that were changed after brief instruction and strongly held misconceptions. The current measures can create a more complete picture of knowledge than only measuring students' accuracy, providing a window into the conceptual change process.     

Students' Weaknesses in Statistical Projects

This article classifies and discusses some of the common technical and conceptual mistakes found in the entries to student statistical project competitions in Hong Kong.     

The effectiveness of using incorrect examples to support learning about decimal magnitude

Comparing common mathematical errors to correct examples may facilitate learning, even for students with limited prior domain knowledge. We examined whether studying incorrect and correct examples was more effective than studying two correct examples across prior knowledge levels. Fourth- and fifth-grade students (N = 74) learned about decimal magnitude in a brief tutoring session. Students were randomly assigned to two conditions: 1) comparing correct and incorrect examples (incorrect condition) or 2) comparing correct examples only (correct condition). The incorrect condition helped students learn correct procedures and key concepts more than the correct condition, including reducing misconceptions. Students’ prior knowledge of decimals did not interact with condition. Students’ explanations during the intervention revealed that those in the incorrect condition more frequently discussed correct concepts (e.g., the magnitude of a decimal and identifying misconceptions). Overall, contrasting incorrect examples with correct examples can help students learn correct concepts and procedures.