THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MISCONCEPTIONS FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING

1. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MISCONCEPTIONS FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING Joel Michael Department of Molecular Biophysics & Physiology Rush Medical College Chicago, Illinois And Physiology Educational Research Consortium

2. Acknowledgements:

3. Acknowledgements: • Harold Modell and Mary Pat Wenderoth

4. Acknowledgements: • Harold Modell and Mary Pat Wenderoth • My colleagues in PERC

5. Acknowledgements: • Harold Modell and Mary Pat Wenderoth • My colleagues in PERC • The National Science Foundation

6. My agenda this morning

7. My agenda this morning • What are misconceptions?

8. My agenda this morning • What are misconceptions? • Where do misconceptions come from?

9. My agenda this morning • What are misconceptions? • Where do misconceptions come from? • How do misconceptions affect the learner?

10. My agenda this morning • What are misconceptions? • Where do misconceptions come from? • How do misconceptions affect the learner? • How should misconceptions affect the teacher?

11. Are misconceptions a “science thing?”

12. Are misconceptions a “science thing?” • Misconceptions have been extensively studied in science.

13. Are misconceptions a “science thing?” • Misconceptions have been extensively studied in science. • It is possible that they were studied in science first.

14. Are misconceptions a “science thing?” • Misconceptions have been extensively studied in science. • It is possible that they were studied in science first. • But, misconceptions exist in whatever discipline someone has looked.

15. What are misconceptions?

16. What are misconceptions? • Mental models that differ in significant ways from the models you expect your students to develop

17. What is a “mental model?”

18. What is a “mental model?” The representation of knowledge and skills in the mind of the individual

19. Mental models (continued)

20. What are misconceptions? • Mental models that differ in significant ways from the models you expect your students to develop

21. What are misconceptions? • Mental models that differ in significant ways from the models you expect your students to develop • Conceptual and/or reasoning difficulties exhibited by your students

22. A Caveat

23. A Caveat • “Misconception” is a convenient, generally understood, label for a complex phenomenon.

24. A Caveat • “Misconception” is a convenient, generally understood, label for a complex phenomenon. • No assumptions about student (teacher) epistomology or possible origins are implied by my use of the term.

25. What’s the big deal?

26. Where do misconceptions come from?

27. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world • Experiences in “school” • Informal learning • Language usage

28. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world

29. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#1) • When you exercise, your breathing frequency (the number of breaths/min) increases. What happens to the amount of air you take in with each breath? Does it: • A. Increase • B. Decrease • C. Stay the same

30. During exercise . . . • Breathing frequency increases • The amount of air you take in INCREASES • 40-50% of students get this wrong (as do 40-50% of my professional colleagues) • This reflects a common misconception (or conceptual difficulty)

31. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#1) • Although everyone has personal experience with exercise, and in spite of the fact we can directly sense the changes in breathing that occur . . .

32. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#1) • Although everyone has personal experience with exercise, and in spite of the fact we can directly sense the changes in breathing that occur . . . • It appears that many people either mis-perceive what is happening or mis-interpret what is happening

33. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#1) • This results in a deeply ingrained mental model about what MUST be happening when ventilation increases that can be very difficult for students to overcome

34. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#2)

35. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#2) • Students learning Newton’s Laws may be able to solve quite complex quantitative problems about the motion of objects in space

36. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#2) • Students learning Newton’s Laws may be able to solve quite complex quantitative problems about the motion of objects in space • Nevertheless, it has been demonstrated repeatedly by educational researchers that students may not understand the concepts represented by Newton’s Laws

37. Where do misconceptions come from? • Personal experience in the world (#2) • The world is NOT Newtonian (there are no frictionless surfaces etc.) and the mental models that arise from our experience in the world are not, in general, Newtonian. Hence, we all have misconceptions about kinematics.

38. Where do misconceptions come from?

39. Where do misconceptions come from? • Experiences in “school”

40. Where do misconceptions come from? • Experiences in “school” • Textbook figures of molecules or ions in solution typically look like this.

42. Where do misconceptions come from? • Experiences in “school” • Textbook figures of molecules or ions in solution typically look like this. • The consequence is that students develop misconceptions about diffusion and other phenomena that occur in solution.

43. Where do misconceptions come from? • Experience in school • Figures and diagrams

44. Where do misconceptions come from? • Experience in school • Figures and diagrams • Analogies and metaphors

45. Where do misconceptions come from? • Experience in school • Figures and diagrams • Analogies and metaphors • Very common in all science teaching

46. Where do misconceptions come from?

47. Where do misconceptions come from? • Informal learning

48. Where do misconceptions come from? • Informal learning • Locker room conversations (between males and females) result in serious misconceptions about exercise, physical conditioning, how to build muscle mass or endurance etc.

49. Where do misconceptions come from? • Informal learning • Locker room conversations (between males and females) result in serious misconceptions about exercise, physical conditioning, how to build muscle mass or endurance etc. • Television, newspapers, magazines, the Internet

50. Where do misconceptions come from?