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Maria Kambouri 1 st year PhD student, Education

Teachers' perceptions about children's misconceptions in science and their response. Maria Kambouri 1 st year PhD student, Education. My own experience.

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Maria Kambouri 1 st year PhD student, Education

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  1. Teachers' perceptions about children's misconceptions in science and their response Maria Kambouri 1st year PhD student, Education

  2. My own experience • Children have a lot of ideas, especially in science, that lead to mini-theories which are children’s own explanations about how our world work • Sometimes these ideas do not agree with what is generally accepted by the scientific community and • These ideas can make learning more difficult for children

  3. Video This is a scene from a movie that shows a mother sitting with her 5 year old son at a beach watching the sunset. This is their conversation: Boy: Mum, why sun dives in the sea? Is it because he feels hot? Mother: Sun doesn’t dive in the sea (smiles). Boy: Yes he does! Mother: The earth is round and sun goes around. Boy: Earth is straight! Mum, are you blind? Mother: Honey, don’t insist. Galileo will come back from the dead if he’d listen to this! Boy: You know NOTHING! http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=57554802

  4. Background • Nowadays, it is generally accepted that children do not come to school as a “tabula rasa” (Pine, Messer, John, 2001). • They bring with them ideas about the world around them and how and why it works (Bradley,1996). • From the moment of birth, or even from the conception, children are developing scientific ideas about the world around them (Johnston,1995). • These concepts are multiply held and often inconsistently applied by the children and, the most important, that they are remarkably resistant to change (Black & Lucas, 1993).

  5. Misconceptions • Children make assumptions, about how the world works, which are based on conceptions and ideas learned through everyday activities. • Children’s assumptions can be logical and reasonable but still can prevent the understanding of scientific concepts as they can lead to inaccurate conceptions, called misconceptions (Eaton, Anderson & Smith, 1984). • Misconceptions can make learning a difficult procedure for a student (Eaton, Anderson & Smith, 1984).

  6. Leaving children to their misconceptions and hoping that they will overcome them is unfair (Schmidt, 1997) • Statistics suggest that teachers seldom have the time to identify children’s misconceptions and are often forced to assume a certain base of students knowledge (Chen, Kirkby & Morin, 2006)

  7. Aim of Study and Design • Discover teacher’s perceptions of children’s misconceptions in regard to science • Investigate how teachers respond to them when planning and teaching a lesson. The research is based on case studies of Cypriot preprimary and primary teachers. The use of case study may help generalise for Cyprus as a whole. A sample of teachers from all schools of south Cyprus teaching 3-7 year old children is used.

  8. Main Research Questions • What are teachers’ perceptions of children’s misconceptions about science and how do they identify them? • How do teachers link children’s misconceptions with a new concept when planning a lesson? • How do teachers respond and use children’s misconceptions during lessons? • How confident do pupils feel during science lessons to make mistakes and ask questions?

  9. Methodology • Questionnaires: designed, piloted and sent to 150 schools pre-primany and primary schools in Cyprus. • Key informant interviews: Professors at Cypriot Universities. • Observations of teachers teaching specific science topics selected from the national curriculum. • Post-test and pre-test trials designed by the researcher and teachers. • Two focus group interviews: one with pre-primary teachers and one with first grade primary teachers. 

  10. During my first year as a research student I came across lots of difficulties like for example: • I couldn't find specific bibliography about misconceptions and the situation Cyprus • I also found it hard to decide the age group I should focus on and the population • Finally, it was hard to choose the science topics that I should focus on as there are too many topics in science

  11. I would be happy to answer to any questions! THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

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