There are many activities that teachers can do to figure out if their students have misconceptions. One thing a teacher can do is have the students complete some sort of assessment. It is absolutely necessary to understand what the students know (or in this case, what incorrect knowledge they possess) in order to address the misconceptions. At the beginning of each unit a teacher could easily hand out a questionnaire or KWL chart to each student to see what they know.
Before teaching our science unit this week, we had each student create an individual KWL flip book. The students wrote down what they know about earth and plate tectonics and questions that they have. When we were looking them over, we noticed some interesting things. A few students might have possible misconceptions. For example, one student wrote that the earth's core is made out of lava which heats the earth, and another student stated that you would fall if you go on top of the world. We also realized common knowledge that the students have (75% water, 25% land) and what knowledge they lack (what plate tectonics are). I really liked this idea because it can be used for any subject or topic and it works for a variety of grade levels.
Other possibilities include:
- Having students free write about a specific topic. Writing can often show teachers possible misconceptions
- Learning what your own misconceptions might be. It would be difficult to teach material correctly if you have misconceptions of your own.
- Determining the difference between misconceptions and preconceptions.
I believe the most important thing a teacher can do to find/address misconceptions would be to understand what the possible misconceptions for the topic are and allowing the students time to discuss their thoughts on what they believe they know.
Resources used:
- http:www.utm.utoronto.ca/~astro/intro.htm
- http:www.nw08.american.edu/~tlarkin/pdf_files/ejp99.pdf
I found this post very informative. Being a reflective practitioner is so important, especially evaluating your own knowledge or misconceptions of the content. I like the idea of the KWL chart to assess students' knowledge as well as misconceptions about a specific topic. This gives you a starting point for your lesson, and makes sure you address all misconceptions in your instruction. As a teacher, you can also be prepared to discuss why their misconceptions are not true, and teach them the correct information.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right on by saying you have to first find out what the misconceptions are that the students have. You gave some great examples of ways to do this. I liked the KWL flip book. Students will find activities like that fun, but they will also be thinking about the topic and informing you, the teacher about their knowledge/misconceptions. I also really like the idea of a free write! Great post!
ReplyDelete