The paper outlines ten claims about the performance of novices solving problems In physics. The claims are then evaluated from the literature, and from the results of a study where synchronised audio tape and paper and pencil working records of novices solving kinematics problems were made. Some alternative methodologies for investigating these claims are discussed and the future direction of the work indicated.

We have been studying collaboration in the context of children conducting science investigations in British primary classrooms. The classroom is the site of action where learning occurs and it is the teacher who plays the key role in manipulating the learning environment and selecting and structuring tasks to achieve the best learning effect for all children. In this paper we describe our general approach and focus in particular on the data we collect to explore how children's conceptual understanding of evaporation progresses. The paper highlights some of the messages emerging about how collaboration can sometimes enhance learning, and sometimes thwart it.

We will describe an attempt to improve children's understanding of some basic concepts in mechanics starting firoman examination o[ their ideas of motion. Children's personal experience of the world colours their beliefs and explanations in science. A computer augmented curriculum w a s designed to promote conceptual change in the classroom. Twenty-nine twelve- and thirteen-year-olds, and their usual classroom teacher tried it out. T h e computer programs consisted of interactive simulations which allowed direct engagement with animations of real world scenarios in which pupils have control over forces and objects. W e demonstrated that this curriculum produced evidence of conceptual change. O u r findings have implications for the development of a more sophisticated view of conceptual change.