How Students (Mis)Understand Science and Mathematics

In this fascinating volume, Ruth Stavy and Dina Tirosh argue that existing models of cognition are not rich enough to explain how students conceive and misconceive scientific and mathematical content. The authors propose a new theory of “intuitive rules” and demonstrate how these rules can be used to interpret the important misconceptions many students have about science and math. By showing how learners react in similar ways to scientifically unrelated situations, the authors make a strong case for a theoretical framework that explains these inconsistencies and predicts students’ responses to scientific and mathematical problem-solving tasks. Provided are useful teaching strategies, grounded in this framework, that should be used to strengthen students’ abilities to understand and apply scientific and mathematics principles.

Ruth Stavy is a professor of science education and Dina Tirosh is a professor of mathematics education, both in the Department of Science Education at Tel-Aviv University, Israel.