Children Misconception In Science

Introduction Definition Children are natural scientists. They do what scientists do, but perhaps for some slightly different and less conscious reasons. They are anxious to understand the world just as adults are. There is a terribly interesting, but rather confusing, world full of stimuli all around them. As they explore, children organize what's around them, building their own schemes and structures and conceptions. The theories children build, whether they are right or wrong are not capricious. They are often logical and rational, and firmly based in evidence and experience. The experience may not be deep and broad enough, the thinking capability may not be enough to formulate what we call a scientific theory, but the process by which the children form these ideas is very scientific indeed. Some call these early ideas children form misconceptions. Misconceptions

(Fisher,1983)

notions(Anderson&Smith,1983),

might

also

intuitive

be

referred

to

as

preconceived

beliefs(McCloskey,1983),

naive

theories(Caramazzaet.al,1983), mixed conceptions, or conceptual misunderstandings. It also called alternative framework. Basically, in science these are cases in which something a child knows and believes does not match what is known to be scientifically correct. Most children who hold misconceptions are not aware that their ideas are incorrect. When they are simply told they are wrong, they often have a hard time giving up their misconceptions especially if they have had a misconception for a long time. The idea that the moon follows him or her as him or her walk through the streets, for instance, is very common for the 4-, 5-, or 6-year-old. The notion that the earth is flat and the sun moves around us are other common understandings among older children. What is especially concerning about misconceptions is those teacher continues to build knowledge on child current understandings. Possessing misconceptions can have serious impacts on children learning. Teachers have to challenge children’s thinking and give them new perspectives from which to view the evidence through a range of activities and frequent reinforcement. Children’s often need to articulate the conflicts that exist in their minds. Drawing out their thinking and talking about their difficulties in abandoning their beliefs is a key role for an adult in the room, such as the teacher, a technician or a teaching assistant attached to the science department.

Misconceptions or alternative framework can divide into two types, phenomenological logical and vocabulary based. Phenomenological misconceptions are those associated with misinterpretations of natural phenomena. For example, the moon can only be seen during the night. These interpretations of their observations may have been acquired spontaneously by children as the result of their limited experiences, or they may have been passed on from some other person. Vocabulary-based misconceptions are generally the result of the elementary school child’s limited experience. For instance, children consider the word solution to refer to the answer or explanation of the answer as thought in elementary school mathematical learning. But when science teacher said a matter dissolve called as solution, the younger learner often is confused by the broader scientific definition. When teachers present concepts that conflict with children’s alternative framework, children have difficulty assimilating the new information and often become confused. Sometimes children simply reject the formal, school-based concept in favor of the more familiar informal one. They also may build a dual, parallel system of concepts in order to remove the cognitive dissonance. The way children form misconceptions. Misconceptions form in a variety of ways. Often misconceptions are passed on by one person to the next. In other cases, children may be presented with two correct concepts, but combine or confuse them. Sometimes children make what to them seems like a logical conclusion, but is simply drawn from too little evidence or lack of experience. Though the connotation of "misconception" is negative, we must remember that the formation of these ideas often represent a child's effort to organize and understand the world around him or her. The success of these efforts will depend both on the developmental stage of the child and the experiences to which he or she is exposed.

Dealing with Children’s Misconceptions The first step in dealing with the misconceptions of children is to recognize that they exist. Concepts grow normally and naturally in children’s cognitive structure as they gain additional experience information. Second, the teacher must try to spot the conflicts that arise between children’s preconceptions and the more formal, scientific concept

presented to them. The teacher can define students’ preconceptions by using questions to arrive at a group definitions or concept statement when possible. Third, the teacher should categorize the misconceptions as phenomenological or vocabulary based. The goal is to correct the misconceptions that are based on scientific phenomena and clarify the difference between the definitions of the in formal use and formal scientific use of like words when the misconceptions is vocabulary base. The fourth step involves structuring learning activities that will accomplish these goals and carrying them out. The way to find out children misconceptions There are many way to find out children misconceptions. It is not easier to find out the knowledge that student already know. The teacher must know the right technique such as question and answer and at the same time have a wide knowledge. The techniques were used to find misconceptions among the children. One of the ways to find children misconceptions is Interview about Instances (IAI). Osborne (1990) uses this technique to interview with student. He uses recorder tape to record their conversation. Other than that, structured play-about-events also one of the way to find children misconceptions. Cross, et. al., (1988) was the person who made this theory. The theory was use to find alternative framework for 4-9 years old Shulamith and Michan (1993) was uses survey technique to find out more about movement concept development among the children. The survey contain three main question that related with movement. Predict, Observation and Explanation was the forth way to find out children misconceptions. The technique use to find children thinking process when do some task with the open question. Strategies for Addressing Misconceptions 1.

Identify Misconceptions

It would seem obvious that before one can effectively deal with misconceptions in lessons teachers need to be aware of likely misconceptions for the lesson they are planning. However, with the wealth of knowledge inherent in many science departments it would definitely be a good use of curriculum planning time to go through schemes of work identifying common misconceptions that colleagues can identify.

Whilst general misconceptions need to be addressed during planning, child specific misconceptions can be diagnosed during the course of a lesson. One way is to focus students’ thinking on relevant observable attributes and to ask them to spot the similarities and differences between two or more objects or diagrams. An approach often used in educational research is to present learners with three diagrams and ask them to suggest which the odd one is out and explain why. This method known as “Kelly’s Triads” requires the student to discriminate and therefore elicits the concepts being used to discriminate. This can reveal areas of ignorance and also the use of alternative conceptions. 2.

Appropriate Cuing

Teachers need to aid students to think in the scientific domain during their lessons particularly during question and answer sessions. There are cues that teachers can use to aid this transition and they need to think about them during the planning process. Teachers are often heard to say things like “remember back to when you did energy in Year 5”, “what was the source of most of the energy on Earth?”, “Where does a plant get its energy from?”. This series of cues allows the student to relate their Science knowledge about energy to answering questions about plants and possibly removing the misconception that plants get there energy from plant food. 3.

Small Group Discussion needs Careful Monitoring

Students’ working in a small group to discuss ideas is a popular teaching method in Science. However it needs careful monitoring because the nature of consensus reaching in small groups has been shown to reinforce life-world constructs which are built up in such environments. This can be contrary to the intended effect. 4.

Experimental work for reinforcement

Solomon (1995) states that conceptual understanding is an essential pre-requisite to carrying out an experiment in a valuable way. Children use their mental construction as well as their language, hands and equipment for doing practical work. Concepts and models are tools for investigating, this implies that expectations can be confirmed or gently tuned by experimental outcomes more easily than they can be refuted. This suggests that teaching about concepts inherent in a practical should proceed its carrying out so that students can build upon the concept during their conclusions and are thinking about the likely outcome. There is a body of work which suggests that

students approaching an open-ended practical have the expectation that anything could happen which is unhelpful to the construction of new knowledge. 5.

Changing ideas is an Acceptable Process

Giving students the knowledge of how scientists came to a particular view when teaching a concept, for example Galileo dropping objects from the leaning tower, and putting this in the context of how this discovery superseded previous beliefs allows students to see that it is acceptable to change constructs. Also social modeling of situations (how he must have felt etc.) has also been shown to aid recall in the learner. 6.

Curriculum Planning and Sequencing

In their study of the understanding of Science Concepts Driver et al looked at how students develop their understanding of scientific concepts as they get older. Curriculum planning of when to deliver certain topics needs to look at the sequence of understanding necessary to grasp a certain concept. 7.

Scaffolding

Scaffolding is providing the appropriate level of support for learners to gain new concepts. Taber (5) gives three levels, the first is the trust me I’m a teacher approach to getting students to explore new ideas. The second level “working in the zone” is where concepts are comprehensible with a little support; this means that concepts and tasks are difficult enough to be interesting but not so hard to be impossible. The third is the practice of gently withdrawing support over time so that the learner becomes able to grasp ideas on their own. Scaffolding learning needs a careful analysis of conceptions and misconceptions and a structured plan through a teaching topic. It also requires careful diagnostic and evaluation tools of the process. The use of concept maps at the beginning and end of topics would enhance the understanding and progression from misconception to conception. 8.

5E Method of Instruction.

The 5 E’s of the model are: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate.  ENGAGE:

During this stage, the instructor piques the student’s interest in the subject matter by asking questions, providing an interesting or unusual event, and/or providing discrepant events. This is not the time to explain or define concepts, provide

answers, or lecture. The point of this stage is to generate enough interest in the subject at hand to propel the student into the learning process, which follows with the remaining stages. A key to successful 5E cycles is the ‘engage’ phase, which whenever possible makes use of ‘discrepant events’. For large enrollment lecture courses, it is much easier to conduct classroom demonstrations that provide challenges to misconceptions in physics and chemistry than it is in biology, especially in ecology and evolution. However, discrepant events can be done via analogies that make use of simple, inexpensive manipulative or analogies or real events that can be shown in 2-5 minute video-clips.  EXPLORE:

In the explore stage, students have an opportunity to work through the problem to become familiar with it by using some hands-on model, discussion, or logical thought processes. Instructors here can ask directing questions, provide minimal consultation, and observe and listen to student interactions. Instructors should not provide answers, critique students, or lecture extensively. The focus of this component is for the student to become familiar with the workings of the problem and generate further interest in the subject.  EXPLAIN:

During the explaining stage, students will begin to use and understand the correct terminology surrounding the subject. Students are formally provided with definitions, explanations, and relationships as they pertain to the concept. Students may still be encouraged to work with hands-on materials, and participate in group work and class discussions. Instructors should not introduce unrelated material, but should correct misconceptions (alternative conceptions).  ELABORATE:

In this stage, students use what they have learned to solve the initial question, as well as others that are similar in nature. During this stage, students should be able to use the concepts introduced during the Explain stage to solve new problems. Instructors should listen for the correct concept and vocabulary usage, and provide directive questions.

 EVALUATE:

During this stage, instructors can assess their students’ ability to use the concepts correctly. This may be done through a variety of processes (e.g. tests, interviews, observations, capstone projects, etc.). Alternatively, students can assess their own progress via a self-evaluation. Teachers should avoid testing for isolated facts, but rather they should ask questions that determine if students can discuss and apply the concepts covered. Some common science misconceptions Much research in science education has focused on students' misconceptions about science. While searching through the literature sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday, there are easier ways to locate common misconceptions. The Operations Physics Project has compiled an extensive list of students' misconceptions on a variety of science topics. Of course, this by no means should be considered the only misconceptions a student might have. There are many example of misconception in science. Below ware the example of misconception in science.  Astronomy 1. Stars and constellations appear in the same place in the sky every night. 2. The sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west every day. 3. The sun is always directly south at 12:00 noon. 4. The tip of a shadow always moves along an east-west line. 5. We experience seasons because of the earth's changing distance from the sun (closer in the summer, farther in the winter). 6. The earth is the center of the solar system. (The planets, sun and moon revolve around the earth.) 7. The moon can only be seen during the night.  Atmosphere 1. Rain comes from holes in clouds. 2. Rain comes from clouds sweating. 3. Rain occurs because we need it. 4. Rain falls from funnels in the clouds. 5. Rain occurs when clouds get scrambled and melt.

 Color and Vision 1. The pupil of the eye is a black object or spot on the surface of the eye. 2. The eye receives upright images. 3. The lens is the only part of the eye responsible for focusing light. 4. The lens forms and image (picture) on the retina. The brain then "looks" at this image and that is how we see. 5. The eye is the only organ for sight; the brain is only for thinking.  Energy 1. Energy is a thing. This is a fuzzy notion, probably because of the way that we talk

about newton-meters or joules. It is difficult to imagine an amount of an abstraction. 2. The terms "energy" and "force" are interchangeable. 3. From the non-scientific point of view, "work" is synonymous with "labor". It is hard to convince someone that more work is probably being done playing football for one hour than studying an hour for a quiz. 4. An object at rest has no energy. 5. The only type of potential energy is gravitational.  Forces and Motion 1. The only "natural" motion is for an object to be at rest. 2. If an object is at rest, no forces are acting on the object. 3. A rigid solid cannot be compressed or stretched. 4. Only animate objects can exert a force. Thus, if an object is at rest on a table, no forces are acting upon it. 5. Force is a property of an object. An object has force and when it runs out of force it stops moving.  Forces and Fluids 1. Objects float in water because they are lighter than water. 2. Objects sink in water because they are heavier than water. 3. Mass/volume/weight/heaviness/size/density may be perceived as equivalent. 4. Wood floats and metal sinks.

5. All objects containing air float.  Heat and Temperature 1. Heat is a substance. 2. Heat is not energy. 3. Temperature is a property of a particular material or object. (Metal is naturally cooler than plastic). 4. The temperature of an object depends on its size. 5. Heat and cold are different, rather than being opposite ends of a continuum.  Light 1. Light is associated only with either a source or its effects. Light is not considered to exist independently in space; and hence, light is not conceived of as "travelling". 2. An object is "seen" because light shines o it. Light is a necessary condition for seeing an object and the eye. 3. Lines drawn outward from a light bulb represent the "glow" surrounding the bulb. 4. A shadow is something that exists on its own. Light pushes the shadow away

from the object to the wall or the ground and is thought of as a "dark " reflection of the object. 5. Light is not necessarily conserved. It may disappear or be intensified.  Magnets and Magnetism 1. All metals are attracted to a magnet. 2. All silver colored items are attracted to a magnet. 3. All magnets are made of iron. 4. Larger magnets are stronger than smaller magnets. 5. The magnetic and geographic poles of the earth are located at the same place. 6. The magnetic pole of the earth in the northern hemisphere is a north pole, and the pole in the southern hemisphere is a south pole.  Measurement 1. Measurement is only linear. 2. Any quantity can be measured as accurately as you want. 3. Children who have used measuring devices at home already know how to measure.

4. The metric system is more accurate than the other measurement systems. 5. The English system is easier to use than the metric system.  Sound 1. Loudness and pitch of sounds are confused with each other. 2. You can see and hear a distant event at the same moment. 3. The more mass in a pendulum bob, the faster it swings. 4. Hitting an object harder changes its pitch. 5. In a telephone, actual sounds are carried through the wire rather than electrical pulses.  Space 1. The earth is sitting on something. 2. The earth is larger than the sun. 3. The sun disappears at night. 4. The earth is round like a pancake. 5. We live on the flat middle of a sphere.  Work and Power 1. Failing to be able to identify the direction in which a force is acting. 2. Believing that any force times any distance is work. 3. Believing that machines put out more work than we put in. 4. Not realizing that machines simply change the form of the work we do (i.e. trade off force for distance or distance for force). Summary. Many of the children’s ideas and misconceptions make sense. They are logical interpretations of the information the children currently have. Indeed these misconceptions make more sense than the scientific view, which is counter, intuitive. The scientific view frequently makes use of ideas based on things that are not observable by the children, such as water vapour, unseen forces, vibrations in air etc. Often science requires children to link together several unseen abstract concepts. Take, for example, the moon. We see the moon in the sky at night and sometimes in the daytime. To make sense of the sun, moon, night and day we have to accept that

➢ the earth spins around every 24 hours ➢ The earth is always half lit up by the sun, and half is in darkness ➢ the moon has an orbit around the earth so it is sometimes in the day-time sky ➢ we see the moon because of the sun’s reflection from the surface of the moon ➢ the moon is always half lit up by the sun (just like the earth), with half in darkness ➢ from the earth we sometimes see the side of the the moon that is lit up (full

moon) sometimes we see half the lit side and the other half is dark (half moon) and sometimes we ‘see’ the unlit side (new moon) Scientific understanding requires ever more complex acceptance and understanding of invisible forces that most people do not appreciate in their normal lives. The scientific explanation to many people is just as fanciful as the Maori legend of how the moon was formed, or the stories of Greek Gods. It is not surprising than, compared to the complexity of science, children’s intuitive ideas have several shortcomings. Harlen (2000 A. p54) suggests several reasons for this, which could include one or more of the following: ➢ Children’s experiences are necessarily limited and therefore the evidence is

partial. – so they may well consider rust to be within metals if they have only paid attention to it when it appears under paint or flaking chrome. ➢ Children pay attention to what they perceive through their senses rather than

the logic, which may suggest a different interpretation – so if the sun appears to move around and follow them then they think it, does move this way.

➢ Younger children (Early Years) particularly focus on one feature as cause for a

particular effect rather than the possibility of several - for example, the factors in the conditions needed for living things to grow healthily. ➢ Although it may satisfy them, the reasoning they use may not stand

comparison with scientific reasoning. For example, if they made genuine predictions based on their ideas, these ideas would be disproved. But instead they may predict what they know to fit the idea. ➢ They may use words (vocabulary) without a grasp of their meaning – we have

seen that this can happen with floating, vibration (sound) and evaporation, but many more examples could be cited. ➢ They may hold on to earlier ideas even though contrary evidence is available

because they have no access to an alternative view that makes sense to them. In such cases they may adjust their ideas to fit new evidence rather than give it up, as in the idea that light turns the eye on. Terry Russell director of the SPACE project argues that children also need a lot of time to assimilate new ideas, and that mental learning, information processing, is best achieved by frequent practical hands on work to embed the concept. Implications for teaching. ➢ Provide children of all ages with lots of hands-on practical work to help embed the concept in a mental schema, but make sure they predict what they think will happen. ➢ If an idea is derived from a narrow range of evidence then provide more evidence ➢ If testing a prediction based on an idea could help challenge the child’s existing idea then help the child to make that prediction and consider the challenge. This should assist children in fair testing and using process skills.

➢ If the child’s use of words is suspect then ask the child to give examples and non examples of what they understand the words to mean. Develop a scientific dictionary, word bank etc. ➢ If children have a locally correct idea about a phenomenon in one situation but do not recognise that the same explanation holds in different situations they need to be helped by the teacher to make links between the situations. This may mean repeating experiments, for example evaporation through clothes on a line, water in a dish a jar and puddles on the playground. Each strategy helps the teacher support the child in extending their conceptual understanding.