Misconceptions

1. Misconceptions Exploring constructivist learning in the science context

2. Objectives • To understand what misconceptions in science are • To understand where they come from • To understand and value the process by which they are created • To understand how to map pupils’ misconceptions • To understand their stability • To prepare the way for understanding how to change them.

3. What are they? • Current is used up in a bulb • Pure substances are safe to eat/drink • Plants get their food from the soil Driver et al Making sense of secondary science

4. Characteristics of misconceptions • May be linked to specialist language • Can be personal or shared with others • Explain how the world works in simple terms • Are often similar to earlier scientific models (eg earth is flat) • May be inconsistent with science taught in schools • Can be resistant to change • May inhibit further conceptual development Based on slide from KS3 strategy

5. Where do they come from? • Constructed from everyday life • Limited experience • Mis-observation • Mis-remembering • Restricted teaching • Particles melt, boil, conduct electricity • Gaps in structure are filled with air/dust/germs • Particles die, want to get away from the cold

6. We need to value the process • Misconceptions arise as the pupil tries to make sense of their world • We want to encourage this sense-making process, while refining the product

7. Variation? Children with very different experiences may have very different misconceptions: eg • Special needs • Minority groups

8. How can we tell what they are? • Read the books • Read their books & test answers • Interviews about instances • Brainstorm a topic with the group • Concept cartoons • Annotated diagrams • Concept maps • Class discussion of ideas/models/theories

10. Concept cartoons • Visual representation of scientific ideas • Minimal text in dialogue form • Familiar situations • Give alternative viewpoints • Use the misconceptions research to choose what to include • Include the accepted answer • Give all alternatives equal status

11. Use concept cartoons to.. • Explore misconceptions • Help pupils ask questions • Relate science content to ‘real’ situations • Promote engagement Use • Individually or in group discussion • In a plenary • Outside lessons (corridor display, parents’ evening)

13. Annotated diagram Based on KS3 strategy slide

14. Concept map F=ma ..size given by.. acceleration gravity ..causes.. ..is a.. FORCE ..measured in newtons

15. Why are they persistent? • They are usually simpler than the formal idea • We see what we want to see • We fail to consider alternative explanations • We can live in parallel universes – a veneer for the teacher and the ‘real one’ • Veneer: we accept just enough of the new idea to keep the teacher happy without really changing • Matches the process of scientific advance – we don’t make a paradigm shift on the basis of one experiment (Kuhn)

16. An overview from a classroom • Video • Teacher reviewing a lesson which reveals misconceptions • Accepting ideas, extending ideas • Discussing models • What teachers do in a practical • Next steps – moving to the formal ideas

17. Discussion task Pupils’ misconceptions • Paper to read: Clerk D and Rutherford M (2000) Language as a confounding variable in the diagnosis of misconceptions Int. J. Sci. Educ., , Vol. 22, No. 7, pp703- 717 Discussion task • Compare the paper with the information presented in the lecture on misconceptions. In view of what you have been learning, does the paper threaten the whole notion of misconceptions? Does it introduce any warnings in terms of how you will explore and work with pupil misconceptions in your own classrooms? (We will pick this up again next week)