Understanding scientific concepts such as photosynthesis and experimentation is challenging for many students because their prior conceptions often differ from scientific explanations. The presentation explains how students’ conceptions shape learning pathways and how these pathways can inform the design of effective learning opportunities in science education. Drawing on empirical studies with students, learning processes are reconstructed using qualitative content analysis and interpreted through the lens of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Students often rely on embodied metaphors - particularly from everyday domains such as human nutrition - to reason about photosynthesis and experimentation. These metaphor-basedthinking patterns help to explain typical learning pathways and provide a basis for developing empirically grounded learning opportunities; the presentation also discusses what implications these findings may have for curriculum development.