After writing a research paper on misconceptions in probability for my Math 490 class, I thought it would be interesting to see if there were any misconceptions that show up in students' thoughts when learning science. Misconceptions can be anything from preconceived notions to conceptual misunderstandings. In science, "these are cases in which something a person knows and believes does not match what is known to be scientifically correct" (New York Science Teacher). Once students believe something to be true, it is very hard to convince them otherwise. This makes it very hard for teachers to correct misconceptions.
From my research so far, I have noticed that there are many misconceptions that students possess throughout the elementary, middle, and high school grades. Some adults may still have misconceptions if they were never brought up before. Since there are so many examples, I decided to pick a few from only some of the topics/themes.
Astronomy:
1. Stars and constellations appear in the same place in the sky every night.
2. We experience seasons because of the earth's changing distance from the sun (closer in the summer, farther in the winter).
3. The earth is the center of the solar system. (The planets, sun, and moon revolve around the earth.)
Atmosphere:
1. Rain comes from holes in clouds.
2. All rivers flow from North to South.
Color and Vision:
1. The eye is the only organ for sight, the brain is only for thinking
2. When white light passes through a colored filter, the filter adds color to the light.
Energy:
1. Energy is a thing.
2. The terms "energy" and "force" are interchangeable.
3. Things "use up" energy.
Forces and Motion:
1. Only animate objects can exert a force. Thus, if an object is at rest on a table, no forces are acting upon it.
2. Acceleration always means that an object is speeding up.
Forces and Fluids:
1. Objects float in water because they are lighter than water.
2. Mass/volume/weight/heaviness/size/density may be perceived as equivalent.
Light:
1. A mirror reverses everything.
2. Light from a bulb only extends outward a certain distance, and then stops. How far it extends depends on the brightness of the bulb.
Magnets and Magnetism:
1. All metals are attracted to a magnet.
2. Larger magnets are stronger than smaller magnets.
All of these misconceptions (and a lot more) can be found at http://www.amasci.com/miscon/opphys.html.
Now that I have done some research, many new questions come to mind when I think about misconceptions. A couple of these include: Since there are so many misconceptions when learning science, how does a teacher address and reverse them all? Especially when time is limited and not all students think the same way? What happens if a teacher possesses a misconception? How is that addressed?
Websites:
http://www.newyorkscienceteacher.com/sci/pages/miscon/index.php
http://www.amasci.com/miscon/opphys.html
N, or should I call you N Stern?
ReplyDeleteThis should be a fun topic to cover. I remember seeing an article many years ago where a middle school teacher gave his class a test on the first day of school. It was a science class, so the teacher asked the class all kinds of questions about different topics. After the test he discussed the questions and answers with the class, letting the students debate their answers. He never told them the correct answers, and never told them everything on the test would be covered during the semester. At the end of the semester he gave the exact same test, and the students were amazed how much they learned during the semester.
But, the interesting thing was how sure some of the students were about their original answers, even when they were wrong.
I look forward to following your blog.
This was an interesting post. You are right when you say that there are a lot of misconceptions in science- where do they come from? Students hearing and repeating in accurate information... parents... uninformed teachers...??
ReplyDeleteI know that I have a lot of misconceptions about science- part;y because I didn't have a good science program growing up and partly because I don't know much about science.
So what can we, as teachers, do to address these misconceptions? Obviously we cannot address ALL of them, but we can address a few. I think a lot of misconceptions are formed due to lack of information. If we are educated on the topic and inform our students, I think we can avoid a lot of these.