Cypriot teachers’ perceptions of children’s scientific misconceptions and their response to them

1. 1. Background Leaving children to their misconceptions and hoping that they will overcome them on their own 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 level of students’ knowledge (Chen, Kirkby & Morin, 2006). Cypriot teachers’ perceptions of children’s scientific misconceptions and their response to them • 3. Main research questions • What are teachers’ perceptions of children’s misconceptions 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 the lesson? • How confidence do pupils feel during a science lesson to make mistakes and ask questions? 2. Aim This study aims in discovering teacher’s perceptions of children’s misconceptions in regard to science but also to investigate how teachers respond to them (when planning and teaching a lesson) • 4. Design • This research is based on different case studies of Cypriot teachers (preprimary and primary teachers). The different case study of each teacher will help us conclude to general results for Cyprus. • 6. Methodology • Questionnaires, which have already been designed, piloted and sent to 150 schools in Cyprus (75 of them are primary schools and 75 are kindergarten schools). • Key personals Interviews: Professors at Cypriot Universities that teach primary and pre-primary student teachers and/or people that participated in the writing of the books used today by teachers that teach natural sciences in Cyprus. The interviews are being designed at the moment and will most likely take place during April. • Observations of teachers while teaching specific subjects selected from the national curriculum. • Post-test and pre-test designed by the researchers and the teacher. They will take place before and after the observations with children’s participation. • Two teachers’ group interviews: one with pre-primary teachers and one with first grade primary teachers • 5. Population • The participants of the research is a sample of teachers from all schools of south Cyprus that work with 5-6 year olds (Pre-primary School), 6-7 year olds (1st grade in Primary School) and 3-6 years old children (Mixed Pre-primary School). • 7. Preliminary Findings • Teachers generally believe that • children have misconceptions but they • do not seem to take them into account • when planning a science lesson. • Teachers with stronger science • Background knowledge feel more • confident when teaching science. The study has been ethically approved in U.K and Cyprus and it has permission from the Cypriot Ministry of Education to be carried out in Cyprus. Maria Kambouri, first-year, full-time doctoral student, University of Warwick Supervisors: Mary Briggs $ Michael Cassidy Contact details: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/courses/degrees/docs/who/students/edrhba?fromGo=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.warwick.ac.uk%2Fgo%2Fmariakambouri