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This study reports the findings of a study which examined the relationship between conceptions of learning and approaches to learning in biology. This study, which used structural equation modelling, also sorted to identify gender differences in the relationship. Two questionnaires, the Conceptions of Learning Biology (COLB) and the Approaches to Learning Biology (ALB), were developed to investigate 582 undergraduate biology majors' (275 females and 307 males) conceptions of and approaches to learning biology, respectively. The results indicate a general trend that, while the students possessing lower-level COLB, 'Memorizing', 'Testing', and 'Calculating and Practising', tend to adopt a surface approach to learning in biology, the students expressing higherlevel conceptions, 'Increasing one's knowledge', 'Application', and 'Understanding and seeing in a new way', are more likely to adopt a deep approach to learning in biology. This study also found several salient gender differences in the COLB, as well as in the way in which the COLB affected the ALB. For example, female students tended to express more sophisticated COLB than male students. The 'Memorizing' conception of learning biology held by male students is inclined to engender both deep motive and deep strategy, but this tendency was not found among the female students.

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This study first used a new approach, combining students' ontological beliefs and process explanations, to represent students' mental models of heat conduction and then examined the relationships between their mental models and their predictions. Clinical interviews were conducted to probe 30 undergraduate physics students' mental models and their predictions about heat conduction. This study adopted a constant comparative method to discover patterns of the participants' responses across the various sources of data, such as verbal utterances, writings, and drawings. The results indicate that, based on the identified five process analogies for how heat is conducted and three ontological beliefs about the material basis for heat conduction, the combinations of these two aspects can better represent their mental models in terms of both the underlying mechanisms and emergent processes of heat conduction than using either alone as has sometimes been done in prior research. In addition, while a scientifically accepted mental model had a better

Technology has been widely involved in science research. Researchers are now applying it to science education in an attempt to bring students' science activities closer to authentic science activities. The present study synthesizes the research to discuss the development of technology-enhanced laboratories and how technology may contribute to fulfilling the instructional objectives of laboratories in physics. To be more specific, this paper discusses the engagement of technology to innovate physics laboratories and the potential of technology to promote inquiry, instructor and peer interaction, and learning outcomes. We then construct a framework for teachers, scientists, and programmers to guide and evaluate technology-integrated laboratories. The framework includes inquiry learning and openness supported by technology, ways of conducting laboratories, and the diverse learning objectives on which a technology-integrated laboratory may be focused.