{"id":1947,"date":"2019-02-19T17:02:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T22:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=1947"},"modified":"2019-02-20T12:41:03","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T17:41:03","slug":"missing-that-conception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2019\/02\/missing-that-conception\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing That Conception"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>&#8220;You know, Mr. Thomas, I heard that toilets flush backwards in Australia. Why is that?&#8221;<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.nosa.co.za\/hubfs\/Courtney\/misconceptions.jpg?ssl=1\" alt=\"Image result for misconception\" \/><\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is a Misconception?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In science, misconceptions are when background knowledge that the students have are wrong or inaccurate. This can prove problematic when you&#8217;re trying to teach about the circulatory system and your students keep asking why blood is blue on the inside.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How do you Address Them?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Here is an example of a very common misconception about the seasons that will help us in learning how to address misconceptions:<\/p>\n<p><em>Seasons are caused by the distance Earth is from the sun!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here is a common figure used to describe the path Earth takes around the sun:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSB8DKde9NwhLuH3AO9mtcXvoJb5AJdvEqiW3ZkeUtbcP9ju3lI\" alt=\"Image result for earths orbit\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The purpose of the image is generally to describe the perihelion (when the Earth is at its closest distance to the Sun) and the aphelion (when the Earth is at its furthest distance from the Sun). While this figure does that well, what it does cause is the\u00a0<strong>misconception<\/strong> of what Earth&#8217;s orbit actually looks like, which is more along the lines of this image:<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.uoregon.edu\/soper\/Orbits\/earthorbit.gif?resize=585%2C439&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image result for earths orbit\" width=\"585\" height=\"439\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once you know\u00a0<em>where<\/em> the misconception stems from, fixing them is your next step.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Option 1: Remove the Problem<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By removing the issue that causes the misconception (the first image), you remove the presence of the background knowledge that was doing harm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Option 2: Resources!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Students can sometimes be a little stubborn with what they believe to be true, so it is always handy to have resources at your disposal when trying to fight a misconception. Here is a video that explains Earth&#8217;s orbit:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Earth&#039;s Orbit, Rotation, Seasons and Moon\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/82W5RRkPERY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Option 3 (<em>This one really isn&#8217;t an option<\/em>): Foster a Safe Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In order for students to come forward with their misconceptions, they have to feel safe in the classroom to express what they&#8217;re thinking. If they don&#8217;t feel safe, they may just fail silently, not actually listening to what you&#8217;re telling them.<\/p>\n<p>Students who offer their misconceptions are able to get more learning out of the lesson rather than just sitting in the back thinking to themselves, &#8220;<em>Gee, what Mr. Thomas is saying about the Earth just doesn&#8217;t make any sense!&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You mean the seasons are caused by the Earth&#39;s TILT? Addressing misconceptions in the classroom is super important, so what steps will you take to combat these common misconceptions? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnnMacKenzie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AnnMacKenzie<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/EDT432?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EDT432<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/scienceteaching?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#scienceteaching<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mr. Thomas (@BryceSBThomas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BryceSBThomas\/status\/1097978785998229506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>&#8220;You know, Mr. Thomas, I heard that toilets flush backwards in Australia. Why is that?&#8221; What is a Misconception? In science, misconceptions are when background <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2019\/02\/missing-that-conception\/\" title=\"Missing That Conception\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2523,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-strengths-in-science-classrooms"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2523"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1948,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions\/1948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}