Conceptual change researchers have made significant progress on two prominent but competing theoretical perspectives regarding knowledge structure coherence. These perspectives can be broadly characterized as (1) knowledge-as-theory perspectives and (2) knowledge-as-elements perspectives. These perspectives can be briefly summarized in terms of the following questions. Is a student's knowledge most accurately represented as a coherent unified framework of theory-like character (e.g.
This study investigates Turkish students' knowledge structure coherence in physics. In particular, this study investigates the conflicting findings reported in Ioannides and Vosniadou's [Ioannides and Vosniadou [2002] Cognitive Science Quarterly, 2, 5-61] and diSessa, Gillespie, and Esterly's [diSessa et al. [2004] Cognitive Science, 28, 843-900] studies about students' understandings of force. Ioannides and Vosniadou's study of four different age levels of students in Greece demonstrated broad consistency in students' understandings of force. diSessa and colleagues' quasireplication in the United States demonstrated conflicting results supporting a more fragmented elemental perspective on students' knowledge structure coherence. The current study investigates these conflicting findings by studying students in a third country using the analytic methods from both studies to clarify the debate over knowledge structure coherence. The levels of consistency demonstrated by students in the current study are somewhat higher than the levels reported by diSessa, Gillespie, and Esterly according to both coding schemes, but are closer overall to the levels reported by diSessa, Gillespie, and Esterly than to the levels reported by Ioannides and Vosniadou. In addition, closer inspection of students' explanations suggests that students' explanations may code as consistent according to the coding schemes for a particular force meaning category but not actually represent a coherent understanding of that force meaning. These results therefore more closely support fragmented elemental perspectives on knowledge structure coherence. The results, however, demonstrate important systematicities in students' thinking and support the possibility that differences between the student populations in the countries of the original studies contributed to the differences in findings of the original studies. ß
The purpose of this study is to explore the strength of relationships between 7 th grade students' Scientific Process Skills (SPS), Nature of Science (NOS) beliefs, and Scientific Creativity (SC) through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). For this purpose, data were collected from 332 students of two public middle school students in Turkey. SPS, Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale (NSKS) and SC instruments were used as data collection tools. Zero-order and partial correlation analysis, MANCOVA and ANCOVA analyses were conducted on the data. Two models were hypothesized. In Hypothesized Model 1, it was considered that SPS both directly and indirectly through subscales of NSKS predicted SC; whereas, in Hypothesized Model 2, it was considered that the SPS directly predicted SC. SEM analysis was conducted to test the two hypothesized models. Sobel's z tests were conducted to examine the significance of the mediator roles of NSKS's subscales in the relationships between SPS and SC. Results indicated that the relationships between SPS and SC were partially mediated by only the Testable subscale of NSKS; likewise, this relationship was partially mediated by secondorder factor NSKS. Finally, we found that the Creative subscale of NSKS has a moderator role on predictive power of the SPS on the SC. Classroom implications obtained from the results are discussed in the paper.
Substantial variation has been observed across an international series of studies examining the consistency of students’ explanations of force and the most common meanings of force apparent in those explanations. On the surface, the variations among studies might be attributed to differences at the national level, but the studies also demonstrate differences among students from different schools in the United States. To what degree, therefore, can these variations be attributed to differences in educational systems as opposed to demographic differences or random variation? The current study compares student interviews across two cities in Turkey to provide insight into this question because Turkey, unlike the United States, has a strongly standardized national educational system. The results demonstrate no significant differences in students' consistency or meanings of force between cities. The results, however, demonstrate the expected differences across ages and majors, which suggest that the study has sufficient power. Thus, while differences have been observed between every city and country in the previous studies, and differences are observed in the current study in terms of grade level and academic majors, no differences are observed between the cities in Turkey. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of ongoing conceptual change research.
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