Misconceptions

I love it when an article captures my attention right off the bat.

"Misconceptions in Biology Education and Conceptual Change Strategies." Education Sciences: Theory and Practice. Bahar, M. May 2003. 55-64.

I read this article and found in very similar to what I found as a Learning Assistant in the Physics Department of SPU, even though this article was written in Turkey. A few good ideas and further areas of research.



Notes:

-Misconceptions, or also known as:

• erroneous ideas


• preconceptions


• multiple private versions of science


• underlying sources of error


• personal models of reality


• spontaneous reasoning


• persistent pitfalls


• common sense concepts


• spontaneous knowledge


• alternative frameworks


• children science


• alternative conceptions

-An interesting pre-test to stimulate and evaluate cognitive structure on a topic:

• write as many worlds related to a topic or subject as possible in 30 seconds
  
  
  
  • gives teacher an idea of how concepts are ordered (based on order of response) in a students brain
  
  
  
  

-Diagnostic tree testing- use a series of true/false questions to deduce where student understanding goes wrong. *** could use to replace multiple choice questions on a test

-"We know that they [misconceptions] are tenacious and resistant to extinction."

• I love this. It is SO true and really interesting how strongly students hold on to their misconceptions


• So, best practices in breaking misconceptions down and rebuilding accepted concepts?

Places to research next:

-Journal of research in science teaching

-Structural Communication Grids?

Misconceptions in Biology Education and Conceptual Change Strategies