Misconceptions are one of the toughest opponents in science classrooms today. It is seen throughout research that “students conceptual misunderstanding of natural phenomena indicates that new concepts cannot be learned if alternative models already exist in the learner’s mind” (National Research Council 3).
How do we, as future science educators, address alternative conceptions?
Step 1: Set Up a Culture of Inquiry
Setting up this culture allows for inquiry-based discussions. This allows the teacher to determine their students misconceptions about a topic. Constantly asking & receiving questions and allowing students to formulate their own thoughts is one of the most important processes in science education and can being up some of the misconceptions that are present in the students.
Questions could be:
- What causes this to happen?
- What is the reason for that?
- Can you explain why this happens?
Step 2: Let Students Engage in Self – Clarification
Ask your students to elaborate upon their ideas. This will give the teacher a better perspective on their students’ views and a better idea to where this alternative conception came from.
Step 3: Get Hands On
Provide an experience, a lab, a demo or just anything for the students to see with their own eyes and do with their own hands. It is vital that the students create their own knowledge by doing an activity. This creates a much more rich experience for the learner.
Step 4: Explain Scientifically & Correctly
Give students the correct explanation for the phenomena wanting to be observed. Explanation must be clear and simple so that more misconceptions do not begin in the students minds.
Some Things to Remember:
- Students are coming from all different backgrounds (culturally, racially, economically as well as different in the ways that they have been exposed to science)
- Show respect
- Meet the students on their level
Citation:
National Research Council. 1997. Science Teaching Reconsidered: A Handbook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/5287.
Love the tweet Mason! I really liked the blog post as well, I think it was great to point out the self clarification aspect of addressing misconceptions as an essential step in the process. What are some ways you can get students to come to their own self actuation in class?
I think some great ways to get students to come to their own self-actualization are all rooted in hands on experiences. Students must do with their own hands and see with their own eyes what is actually happening with the given phenomena. Specifically, I think this would work really great with demonstrations that the students do themselves as well as experimenting with the phenomena that is the topic of discussion. It might be good in this second scenario to instruct students to employ their prior knowledge and see if it works out! This could be a good way to detect misconceptions.
Great job on your post, Mason! I really liked that you added the importance of showing respect to students and meeting them on their level. Doing so would definitely allow students to feel more comfortable sharing and changing their misconceptions. I also liked your step 2, where you asked students to engage in self-clarification. This will definitely help the teacher to understand the thought process of the students and identify ways to help them more effectively. Do you plan to do this through discussions or are there any other strategies that you plan on using for this step?
I think discussions work but the way that I saw it happening in my head was students coming to their own conclusion via experiments and demos. For example, look at the moon phase demonstration. Having the students actually be the ones manipulating the variables makes a much stronger connection in their mind when learning this content.