Theoretical frameworks are used in qualitative research to help inform and guide the research study because they suggest the appropriate methods for collecting and analyzing data in order to answer the research questions.29 Therefore, there are three bodies of literature that informed this study: (1) the learning theory, personal constructivism, (2) students’ alternative conceptions of climate science, and (3) students’ understanding of the particulate nature of matter. Each of these theoretical frameworks and its implication for this study will be discussed below