Addressing Your Students’

Misconceptions:Breaking Through the

Barriers to Student Learning

Presented at the Inquiry Series Blast-OffSeptember 20, 2008 by Jake Burgoon and Michelle KlingerE-mail jburgoo@bgsu.edu with any questions or comments

Barriers to student learning

Correct science concepts won’t stick – Misconceptions often function well in

everyday life– Children often separate concepts into

“school concepts” and “everyday concepts”

Misconceptions vs. You

Where do misconceptions come from?

Classroom instruction– Students draw conclusions that were

not intended Everyday experiencesIncorrect explanations Textbooks

What’s the big deal?

STUDENTS

TEACHERS

Only you can prevent the continuation of

misconceptions!1. Mastering science

content2. Correcting

misconceptions with instruction

3. Being aware of your students’ misconceptions

Mastering science content

Lack of content knowledge = inadvertently providing students with scientifically incorrect informationTeachers (and adults) often have the same misconceptions as students

Example from TEAMS tests

If you cut a bar magnet in half, each half will:a. no longer attract objects

b. attract from both endsc. attract objects only at one endd. have two north poles or two south polese. be more powerful than the original

35%

25%

44%

22%

Correcting misconceptions with instruction

Creating “cognitive conflict”– Students must question their previous

conception

Present students with a viable alternative– Applicable to the real world

Hands-on explorations are great, but your guidance is needed!

Being aware of your students’ misconceptionsIn order to correct student misconceptions, you must FIRST know what they are– Dive into the research

• AAAS Benchmarks, Making Sense of Secondary Science

– Pre-assessments• Your students may have unique ideas

Why Should I Pre-assess?

Ensures that you are giving your students EXACTLY what they need– Align your instruction to their

misconceptions– Lessons are slightly modified each

year

Provides pre-instruction data– Compare to post-assessment

Pre-assessing All Learners

Since people don’t all learn best by only doing, seeing, hearing or reading information, we need to find different ways to assess different learners.

Kinesthetic Learners

Hands-on– Sorting activities

Magnetic sorting activity

Kinesthetic Learners

Moving Around– Physical activities

Mirror/light reflection activity

Visual Learners

Writing things down– Written probes

Sample from Page Keeley’s Uncovering Student Ideas In Science

Visual Learners

Watching cartoons or viewing comics

– Concept Drawing– Animated cartoon

Auditory Learners

Talking things through- Demonstrate and Discuss

Mysterious Suspension Jar & “Science Talks”

Useful Resources

Uncovering Student Ideas in Science (Volumes 1 to 3) by Page Keeley– 75 total formative assessment probes

Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research Into Children’s Ideas by Rosiland Driver– Student misconceptions about

numerous topics