Collaborative Discourse and the Modeling of Solution Chemistry with Magnetic 3D Physical Models--Impact and Characterization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warfa, Abdi-Rizak M.; Roehrig, Gillian H.; Schneider, Jamie L.; Nyachwaya, James

2014-01-01

A significant body of the literature in science education examines students' conceptions of the dissolution of ionic solids in water, often showing that students lack proper understanding of the particulate nature of dissolving materials as well as holding numerous misconceptions about the dissolution process. Consequently, chemical educators have…

Learning From Where Students Look While Observing Simulated Physical Phenomena

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demaree, Dedra

2005-04-01

The Physics Education Research (PER) Group at the Ohio State University (OSU) has developed Virtual Reality (VR) programs for teaching introductory physics concepts. Winter 2005, the PER group worked with OSU's cognitive science eye-tracking lab to probe what features students look at while using our VR programs. We see distinct differences in the features students fixate on depending upon whether or not they have formally studied the related physics. Students who first make predictions seem to fixate more on the relevant features of the simulation than those who do not, regardless of their level of education. It is known that students sometimes perform an experiment and report results consistent with their misconceptions but inconsistent with the experimental outcome. We see direct evidence of one student holding onto misconceptions despite fixating frequently on the information needed to understand the correct answer. Future studies using these technologies may prove valuable for tackling difficult questions regarding student learning.

Learning about Gravity I. Free Fall: A Guide for Teachers and Curriculum Developers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kavanagh, Claudine; Sneider, Cary

This article is the first of a two-part review of research on children's and adults understanding of gravity and on how best to teach gravity concepts to students and teachers. This first article concerns free fall—how and why objects fall when they are dropped. The review begins with a brief historical sketch of how these ideas were developed in human history, followed by a summary of the relevant standards and benchmarks. The body of research is organized by the nature of the findings, beginning with studies of the youngest children, followed by older students, adults, and teachers. Although a diversity of misconceptions are found at all age levels, in general children, between the ages of 7 and 9 progress from the idea that things fall because they're not supported to things fall because they're "heavy." Between the ages of 9 and 13, students begin to use the term "gravity," an unseen force, to explain falling, such as "gravity acts just on heavy objects," or "things fall because air is pushing them down." Surprisingly, many high school and college students who can successfully solve numerical problems involving gravity hold qualitative misconceptions similar to those held by much younger students. The finding that even college physics students have significant misconceptions about free fall underscores the importance of effective teaching at the middle and high school levels. Some studies have found that few teachers are aware of their students' misconceptions or know what to do about them. A few studies have reported success in helping students shed their misconceptions, leading to promising recommendations for curriculum development and teaching.

Investigating Undergraduate Science Students' Conceptions and Misconceptions of Ocean Acidification.

PubMed

Danielson, Kathryn I; Tanner, Kimberly D

2015-01-01

Scientific research exploring ocean acidification has grown significantly in past decades. However, little science education research has investigated the extent to which undergraduate science students understand this topic. Of all undergraduate students, one might predict science students to be best able to understand ocean acidification. What conceptions and misconceptions of ocean acidification do these students hold? How does their awareness and knowledge compare across disciplines? Undergraduate biology, chemistry/biochemistry, and environmental studies students, and science faculty for comparison, were assessed on their awareness and understanding. Results revealed low awareness and understanding of ocean acidification among students compared with faculty. Compared with biology or chemistry/biochemistry students, more environmental studies students demonstrated awareness of ocean acidification and identified the key role of carbon dioxide. Novel misconceptions were also identified. These findings raise the question of whether undergraduate science students are prepared to navigate socioenvironmental issues such as ocean acidification. © 2015 K. I. Danielson and K. D. Tanner. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Conceptions of Knowledge in Research on Students' Understanding of the Greenhouse Effect: Methodological Positions and Their Consequences for Representations of Knowing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jakobsson, Anders; Makitalo, Asa; Saljo, Roger

2009-01-01

Much of the research on students' understanding of the greenhouse effect and global warming reports poor results. Students are claimed to hold misconceptions and naive beliefs, and the impact of teaching on their conceptions is also low. In the present study, these results are called into question, and it is argued that they may to a large extent…

Teaching genetics using hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoppe, Stephanie Ann

Teaching genetics can be challenging because of the difficulty of the content and misconceptions students might hold. This thesis focused on using hands-on model activities, problem solving, and inquiry-based teaching/learning methods in order to increase student understanding in an introductory biology class in the area of genetics. Various activities using these three methods were implemented into the classes to address any misconceptions and increase student learning of the difficult concepts. The activities that were implemented were shown to be successful based on pre-post assessment score comparison. The students were assessed on the subjects of inheritance patterns, meiosis, and protein synthesis and demonstrated growth in all of the areas. It was found that hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based activities were more successful in learning concepts in genetics and the students were more engaged than tradition styles of lecture.

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Digital Logic Concept Inventory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, Geoffrey L.; Zilles, Craig; Loui, Michael C.

2014-01-01

Concept inventories hold tremendous promise for promoting the rigorous evaluation of teaching methods that might remedy common student misconceptions and promote deep learning. The measurements from concept inventories can be trusted only if the concept inventories are evaluated both by expert feedback and statistical scrutiny (psychometric…

The DIAGNOSER project: combining assessment and learning.

PubMed

Thissen-Roe, Anne; Hunt, Earl; Minstrell, Jim

2004-05-01

DIAGNOSER is an Internet-based tool for classroom instruction. It delivers continuous formative assessment and feedback to high school physics students and their teachers about the correct and incorrect concepts and ideas the students may hold regarding physical situations. That is, it diagnoses misconceptions that underlie wrong answers of students, such as a confusion of velocity with acceleration. We use data about patterns of student responses, particularly consistency of errors from question to question, to improve the system's understanding of student concepts.

How Augmented Reality Enables Conceptual Understanding of Challenging Science Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Susan; Anderson, Emma; Lin, Joyce; Elinich, Karen

2017-01-01

Research on learning about science has revealed that students often hold robust misconceptions about a number of scientific ideas. Digital simulation and dynamic visualization tools have helped to ameliorate these learning challenges by providing scaffolding to understand various aspects of the phenomenon. In this study we hypothesize that…

Detection of Misconceptions about Colour and an Experimentally Tested Proposal to Combat Them

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez-Borreguero, Guadalupe; Perez-Rodriguez, Angel Luis; Suero-Lopez, Maria Isabel; Pardo-Fernandez, Pedro Jose

2013-01-01

We study the misconceptions about colour that most people hold, determining the general phenomenological laws that govern them. Concept mapping was used to combat the misconceptions which were found in the application of a test specifically designed to determine these misconceptions, while avoiding the possible misleading inductions that could…

Developing conceptions of food and nutrition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francis, Rod; Hill, Doug

1993-12-01

This paper describes an investigation of concepts that various groups hold about food and nutrition. Groups investigated were students in Years 4 and 8, university students in a BEd (primary) program and parents of the Year 4 students. It was found that for many important concepts relating to food selection, the basic ideas of each group were surprisingly consistent, despite the influence of formal education. In particular, misconception about energy and its role in nutrition and particular food groups was an important finding. Implications for school and community education are drawn from the results.

Conceptual Difficulties Experienced by Prospective Teachers in Electrochemistry: Half-Cell Potential, Cell Potential, and Chemical and Electrochemical Equilibrium in Galvanic Cells.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozkaya, Ali Riza

2002-01-01

A previous study of prospective teachers found that students from different countries and different levels of electrochemistry hold common misconceptions, indicating that concepts were presented to them poorly. Reports on how prospective teachers' scientifically incorrect ideas were used to form assertion-reason-type questions and how these…

Pupils Think Sound Has Substance--Well, Sort of ...

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whittaker, Andrew G.

2012-01-01

Physics is a subject where pupils hold a great number of deeply seated misconceptions. Sound is a prime example, as it requires the visualisation of a form of energy that moves imperceptibly through an invisible medium. This article outlines some of the common misconceptions that pupils hold regarding the nature of sound and how it is transmitted,…

Misconceptions and biases in German students' perception of multiple energy sources: implications for science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Roh Pin

2016-04-01

Misconceptions and biases in energy perception could influence people's support for developments integral to the success of restructuring a nation's energy system. Science education, in equipping young adults with the cognitive skills and knowledge necessary to navigate in the confusing energy environment, could play a key role in paving the way for informed decision-making. This study examined German students' knowledge of the contribution of diverse energy sources to their nation's energy mix as well as their affective energy responses so as to identify implications for science education. Specifically, the study investigated whether and to what extent students hold mistaken beliefs about the role of multiple energy sources in their nation's energy mix, and assessed how misconceptions could act as self-generated reference points to underpin support/resistance of proposed developments. An in-depth analysis of spontaneous affective associations with five key energy sources also enabled the identification of underlying concerns driving people's energy responses and facilitated an examination of how affective perception, in acting as a heuristic, could lead to biases in energy judgment and decision-making. Finally, subgroup analysis differentiated by education and gender supported insights into a 'two culture' effect on energy perception and the challenge it poses to science education.

Uncovering students' misconceptions by assessment of their written questions.

PubMed

Olde Bekkink, Marleen; Donders, A R T Rogier; Kooloos, Jan G; de Waal, Rob M W; Ruiter, Dirk J

2016-08-24

Misconceptions are ideas that are inconsistent with current scientific views. They are difficult to detect and refractory to change. Misconceptions can negatively influence how new concepts in science are learned, but are rarely measured in biomedical courses. Early identification of misconceptions is of critical relevance for effective teaching, but presents a difficult task for teachers as they tend to either over- or underestimate students' prior knowledge. A systematic appreciation of the existing misconceptions is desirable. This explorative study was performed to determine whether written questions generated by students can be used to uncover their misconceptions. During a small-group work (SGW) session on Tumour Pathology in a (bio)medical bachelor course on General Pathology, students were asked to write down a question about the topic. This concerned a deepening question on disease mechanisms and not mere factual knowledge. Three independent expert pathologists determined whether the content of the questions was compatible with a misconception. Consensus was reached in all cases. Study outcomes were to determine whether misconceptions can be identified in students' written questions, and if so, to measure the frequency of misconceptions that can be encountered, and finally, to determine if the presence of such misconceptions is negatively associated with the students' course formal examination score. A subgroup analysis was performed according to gender and discipline. A total of 242 students participated in the SGW sessions, of whom 221 (91 %) formulated a question. Thirty-six questions did not meet the inclusion criteria. Of the 185 questions rated, 11 % (n = 20) was compatible with a misconception. Misconceptions were only found in medical students' questions, not in biomedical science students' questions. Formal examination score on Tumour Pathology was 5.0 (SD 2.0) in the group with misconceptions and 6.7 (SD 2.4) in the group without misconceptions (p = 0.003). This study demonstrates that misconceptions can be uncovered in students' written questions. The occurrence of these misconceptions was negatively associated with the formal examination score. Identification of misconceptions creates an opportunity to repair them during the remaining course sessions, in advance of the formal examination.

The Students’ misconceptions profile on chapter gas kinetic theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jauhariyah, M. N. R.; Suprapto, N.; Suliyanah; Admoko, S.; Setyarsih, W.; Harizah, Z.; Zulfa, I.

2018-03-01

Students have conception and misconceptions in the learning process. Misconceptions are caused by the teacher, students, and learning source. In the previous study, the researcher developed a misconception diagnosis instrument using three-tier on chapter gas kinetic theory. There are 14 items including 5 sub-chapters on gas kinetic theory. The profile of students’ misconceptions shows that students have misconceptions in each sub-chapter. The cause of misconceptions came from preconceptions, associative thinking, reasoning, intuition, and false negative. The highest cause of misconception in this chapter is student’s humanistic thinking.

One Output Function: A Misconception of Students Studying Digital Systems--A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trotskovsky, E.; Sabag, N.

2015-01-01

Background: Learning processes are usually characterized by students' misunderstandings and misconceptions. Engineering educators intend to help their students overcome their misconceptions and achieve correct understanding of the concept. This paper describes a misconception in digital systems held by many students who believe that combinational…

Factors Contributing to Students' Misconceptions in Learning Covalent Bonds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erman, Erman

2017-01-01

This study aims to identify students' misconceptions regarding covalent bonds. Seventy-seven graduate students in the middle of Indonesia participated in the study. Data were collected in three stages. First, misconceptions were identified by using the Semi Open Diagnostic Test. Ten students who experienced the worst misconceptions were…

Students’ Misconceptions on Properties of Rectangles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ningrum, R. W.; Yulianti, M.; Helingo, D. D. Z.; Budiarto, M. T.

2018-01-01

This research aims to describe students’ misconception of junior high school on the concept of the properties of rectangles and the alternative to overcome them. This research was qualitative descriptive research using test with the CRI (Certainty of Response Index) method and interview method. There were three students as subjects in this study who was identified to have the most misconceptions among students in the class . Based on the data analysis, the subjects showed similar misconceptions. One of student misconception was on the properties of rectangles. Student thought that rectangles were always regularly shaped, or in other word no rectangle was irregular shaped. Students’ misconception caused by picture given to the problem. The misconceptions may due to the lack of understanding of rectangle properties. Alternatives can be done such as re-explain (remediation) or by using cognitive conflict strategies. In particular, our results indicated that 8th grade students had misconceptions in understanding the properties of rectangles. By knowing the misconceptions, students can possibly know how new knowledge is interpreted as well as having an impact on student’s ability to learn correct information in the future.

Breaking Down Barriers: Addressing student misconceptions in the K-12 classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eisenhamer, B.; McCallister, J. D.; Knisely, L.

2004-05-01

A typical astronomy question an educator may ask their students is "What is a black hole?" Many times, students' responses sound more like an episode of Star Trek than an understanding about the universe and how it works: responses such as "Black holes are worm holes in space" or "A black hole is a huge vacuum in space, sucking everything in". These are all common astronomy misconceptions about black holes. A misconception is defined as a preconceived notion of how the world, or in the case of astronomy - the universe, works. Misconceptions may originate for a variety of reasons, from miscommunication, to oversimplification, to misrepresentation via the media or pop culture. Students who latch on to an astronomy misconception may have difficulty learning new information that is built upon the existing misconception. Additionally, educators who are not able to identify and address misconceptions can create learning barriers that may resonate throughout a students' life. This poster will introduce some of the extensive research that has gone into determining typical student misconceptions about astronomy, ways to identify them, and how students develop them. The poster will also explain why teachers need to be aware of ideas and concepts students may harbor as well as how misconceptions can be remedied.

Predicting Student Misconceptions in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fouché, Jaunine

2015-01-01

Two challenges science teachers face are identifying misconceptions students have about how the world operates and getting past those misconceptions. Students' prior conceptions often conflict with the content educators are trying to teach. The gateway to revealing and changing such misconceptions, Fouché says, is predictive questioning. As they…

Myth-Busting Is a Bust for Patient Education: Making Salient Older Adults' Misconceptions about Osteoarthritis Fails to Lead to Lasting Corrections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ansburg, Pamela I.

2016-01-01

Older adults hold many misconceptions about health and wellness that reduce their health literacy. To counter these misconceptions, health educators commonly turn to educational interventions that include myth-busting--making explicit health-related myths and refuting those myths. Because of typical age-related changes in memory functioning, there…

Common student misconceptions in exercise physiology and biochemistry.

PubMed

Morton, James P; Doran, Dominic A; Maclaren, Don P M

2008-06-01

The present study represents a preliminary investigation designed to identify common misconceptions in students' understanding of physiological and biochemical topics within the academic domain of sport and exercise sciences. A specifically designed misconception inventory (consisting of 10 multiple-choice questions) was administered to a cohort of level 1, 2, and 3 undergraduate students enrolled in physiology and biochemistry-related modules of the BSc Sport Science degree at the authors' institute. Of the 10 misconceptions proposed by the authors, 9 misconceptions were confirmed. Of these nine misconceptions, only one misconception appeared to have been alleviated by the current teaching strategy employed during the progression from level 1 to 3 study. The remaining eight misconceptions prevailed throughout the course of the degree program, suggesting that students enter and leave university with the same misconceptions in certain areas of exercise physiology and biochemistry. The possible origins of these misconceptions are discussed, as are potential teaching strategies to prevent and/or remediate them for future years.

Students' understanding of direct current resistive electrical circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engelhardt, Paula Vetter; Beichner, Robert J.

2004-01-01

Both high school and university students' reasoning regarding direct current resistive electric circuits often differ from the accepted explanations. At present, there are no standard diagnostic tests on electric circuits. Two versions of a diagnostic instrument were developed, each consisting of 29 questions. The information provided by this test can provide instructors with a way of evaluating the progress and conceptual difficulties of their students. The analysis indicates that students, especially females, tend to hold multiple misconceptions, even after instruction. During interviews, the idea that the battery is a constant source of current was used most often in answering the questions. Students tended to focus on the current in solving problems and to confuse terms, often assigning the properties of current to voltage and/or resistance.

Modelling Student Misconceptions Using Nested Logit Item Response Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildiz, Mustafa

2017-01-01

Student misconceptions have been studied for decades from a curricular/instructional perspective and from the assessment/test level perspective. Numerous misconception assessment tools have been developed in order to measure students' misconceptions relative to the correct content. Often, these tools are used to make a variety of educational…

The influence of implementation of interactive lecture demonstrations (ILD) conceptual change oriented toward the decreasing of the quantity students that misconception on the Newton's first law

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurniawan, Yudi; Suhandi, Andi; Hasanah, Lilik

2016-02-01

This paper aims to know the influence of implementation of ILD conceptual change oriented (ILD-CC) toward the decreasing of the quantity of students that misconception on the Newton's First Law. The Newton's First Law misconceptions separated into five sub-misconceptions. This research is a quantitative research with one group pretest-posttest design. The samples of this research were 32 students on 9th grade of junior high school in Pandeglang, Banten, Indonesia. The diagnostic test is a multiple-choice form with three-tier test format. The result of this study found that there was decreasing of the quantity of students that misconception on the Newton's First Law. The largest percentage in the decreasing of the number of the students that misconception was on the Misconception 4 about 80, 77%. The Misconception 4 is "The cause of tendency of the body passenger that sat upright on the accelerated bus from motionless bus suddenly to backward be a backward force". For the future studies, it suggested to combine other methods to optimize the decreasing the number of students that misconception.

Validity of student’s misconceptions diagnosis on chapter Kinetic Theory of Gases using three-tier diagnostic test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jauhariyah, M. N. R.; Zulfa, I.; Harizah, Z.; Setyarsih, W.

2018-04-01

In the learning process, students still have misconceptions although the concept has been taught by the teacher. One of the causes of misconceptions comes from the students themselves. The teacher often does not know that students have misconceptions because the assessment that has been given does not review the cause of misconception that occurs in students. Students have misconception especially in Abstract concept like in chapter Kinetic Theory of Gases. Because of that, this study made three tier diagnostic instrument test to diagnose student’s misconception in chapter Kinetic Theory of Gases. Moreover, it is also done an analysis in order to know the quality of instrument that has been made. According to the trials, the percentage of average internal validity is about 84.6% which means it is in proper to use and the reliability of instrument is 0.752, meaning reliable to use. This instrument used to diagnose the students’ misconceptions on chapter Kinetic Theory of Gases.

Student Misconceptions about Plant Transport--A Sri Lankan Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vitharana, P. R. K. A.

2015-01-01

Students bring with them their own misconceptions to the science classes and it becomes a barrier in developing new concepts. Therefore, identifying misconceptions is an essential component in teaching science. The objective of this study was to identify 10th grade students' misconceptions on plant transport with the use of two-tier diagnostic…

The Initial Knowledge State of High School Astronomy Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadler, Philip Michael

1992-01-01

This study of 1,414 high school earth science and astronomy students characterizes the prevalence of their astronomical misconceptions. The multiple-choice instrument was prepared by scouring the literature on scientific misconceptions for evidence of preconceptions and from the author's interviews with students. Views that were incorrect, but espoused by a large fraction of students, were included as distractors. Results have been analyzed using classical test theory. A linear multiple regression model has helped to show the relative contributions of demographic and school factors to the number of misconceptions held by students. The instrument was found to be a reliable and valid test of students' misconceptions. The mean student score was 34 percent. Fifty-one student misconceptions were revealed by this test, nineteen of which were preferred by students to the correct answer. Several misconceptions appeared more frequently among the higher-performing students. Significant differences in student performance were found in several subgroups based upon schooling and demographic factors. Twenty -five percent out of a total of 30 percent of the variance in total test score could be accounted for by gender, race, and math level courses taken. Grade level and previous enrollment in an earth science course were not found to be predictive of total score. Mother's education proved to be of small import; level of father's education was not significant. This test is a useful addition to instruments that measure student misconceptions. It could find application in tests of effective intervention for conceptual learning. Significantly shortened versions of this instrument that account for 75 and 90 percent of the variance in the forty-seven-item instrument are recommended. Such tests of misconceptions may be somewhat disheartening to teachers and their students. A test made up of only misconception questions will probably have average total scores less than 40 percent. If teachers are to test their students using misconception questions, they should adjust grading policies to reflect this lower average score.

Assessing and Improving Student Understanding of Tree-Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kummer, Tyler A.

Evolution is the unifying theory of biology. The importance of understanding evolution by those who study the origins, diversification and diversity life cannot be overstated. Because of its importance, in addition to a scientific study of evolution, many researchers have spent time studying the acceptance and the teaching of evolution. Phylogenetic Systematics is the field of study developed to understand the evolutionary history of organisms, traits, and genes. Tree-thinking is the term by which we identify concepts related to the evolutionary history of organisms. It is vital that those who undertake a study of biology be able to understand and interpret what information these phylogenies are meant to convey. In this project, we evaluated the current impact a traditional study of biology has on the misconceptions students hold by assessing tree-thinking in freshman biology students to those nearing the end of their studies. We found that the impact of studying biology was varied with some misconceptions changing significantly while others persisted. Despite the importance of tree-thinking no appropriately developed concept inventory exists to measure student understanding of these important concepts. We developed a concept inventory capable of filling this important need and provide evidence to support its use among undergraduate students. Finally, we developed and modified activities as well as courses based on best practices to improve teaching and learning of tree-thinking and organismal diversity. We accomplished this by focusing on two key questions. First, how do we best introduce students to tree-thinking and second does tree-thinking as a course theme enhance student understanding of not only tree-thinking but also organismal diversity. We found important evidence suggesting that introducing students to tree-thinking via building evolutionary trees was less successful than introducing the concept via tree interpretation and may have in fact introduced or strengthened a misconception. We also found evidence that infusing tree-thinking into an organismal diversity course not only enhances student understanding of tree-thinking but also helps them better learn organismal diversity.

Flip-Flops in Students' Conceptions of State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, G. L.; Zilles, C.; Loui, M. C.

2012-01-01

The authors conducted a qualitative interview-based study to reveal students' misconceptions about state in sequential circuits. This paper documents 16 misconceptions of state, how students' conceptions of state shift and change, and students' methodological weaknesses. These misconceptions can be used to inform and direct instruction. This study…

Misconceptions in Physics amongst Nigerian Secondary School Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivowi, U. M. O.

1984-01-01

Results obtained from a test administered to form five Nigerian students (aged 15-17) indicate that misconceptions in physics appear to be widespread among these students in roughly the same way as among South African students. Possible causes of these misconceptions are outlined and discussed. (JN)

Secondary School Students' Misconceptions about Photosynthesis and Plant Respiration: Preliminary Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Svandova, Katerina

2014-01-01

The study investigated the common misconceptions of lower secondary school students regarding the concepts of photosynthesis and plant respiration. These are abstract concepts which are difficult to comprehend for adults let alone for lower secondary school students. Research of the students misconceptions are conducted worldwide. The researches…

Diagnosing Secondary Students' Misconceptions of Photosynthesis and Respiration in Plants Using a Two-Tier Multiple Choice Instrument.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haslam, Filocha; Treagust, David F.

1987-01-01

Describes a multiple-choice instrument that reliably and validly diagnoses secondary students' understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Highlights the consistency of students' misconceptions across secondary levels and indicates a high percentage of students have misconceptions regarding plant physiology. (CW)

Student Misconceptions in Introductory Biology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Kathleen M.; Lipson, Joseph I.

Defining a "misconception" as an error of translation (transformation, correspondence, interpolation, interpretation) between two different kinds of information which causes students to have incorrect expectations, a Taxonomy of Errors has been developed to examine student misconceptions in an introductory biology course for science…

The Relationship between the Process Skill of Prediction and Students' Misconceptions in Biology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavoie, Derrick R.

Misconceptions, shown to be prevalent in students even at the college level, may affect the cognitive process of making predictions in biology. The purpose of this study was to: (1) identify students' misconceptions about important biological concepts; (2) identify students' cognitive behaviors associated with making predictions about these…

An inventory of student recollections of their past misconceptions as a tool for improved classroom astronomy instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favia, Andrej

My Ph.D. research is about examining the persistence of 215 common misconceptions in astronomy. Each misconception is based on an often commonly-held incorrect belief by college students taking introductory astronomy. At the University of Maine, the course is taught in alternating semesters by Prof. Neil F. Comins and Prof. David J. Batuski. In this dissertation, I examine the persistence of common astronomy misconceptions by the administration of a retrospective survey. The survey is a new instrument in that it permits the student to indicate either endorsement or rejection of each misconception at various stages in the student's life. I analyze data from a total of 639 students over six semesters. I compare the survey data to the results of exams taken by the students and additional instruments that assess students' misconceptions prior to instruction. I show that the consistency of the students' recollection of their own misconceptions is on par with the consistency of responses between prelims and the final exam. I also find that students who report higher increased childhood interest in astronomy are more likely to have accurate recalls of their own past recollections. I then discuss the use of principal components analysis as a technique for describing the extent to which misconceptions are correlated with each other. The analysis yields logical groupings of subtopics from which to teach. I then present a brief overview of item response theory, the methodology of which calculates relative difficulties of the items. My analysis reveals orders to teach the associated topics in ways that are most effective at dispelling misconceptions during instruction. I also find that the best order to teach the associated concepts is often different for high school and college level courses.

Exploring Lecturers' Views of First-Year Health Science Students' Misconceptions in Biomedical Domains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Badenhorst, Elmi; Mamede, Sílvia; Hartman, Nadia; Schmidt, Henk G.

2015-01-01

Research has indicated that misconceptions hamper the process of knowledge construction. Misconceptions are defined as persistent ideas not supported by current scientific views. Few studies have explored how misconceptions develop when first year health students conceptually move between anatomy and physiology to construct coherent knowledge…

Text Based Analogy in Overcoming Student Misconception on Simple Electricity Circuit Material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hesti, R.; Maknun, J.; Feranie, S.

2017-09-01

Some researcher have found that the use of analogy in learning and teaching physics was effective enough in giving comprehension in a complicated physics concept such as electrical circuits. Meanwhile, misconception become main cause that makes students failed when learning physics. To provide teaching physics effectively, the misconception should be resolved. Using Text Based Analogy is one of the way to identifying misconceptions and it is enough to assist teachers in conveying scientific truths in order to overcome misconceptions. The purpose of the study to investigate the use of text based analogy in overcoming students misconception on simple electrical circuit material. The samples of this research were 28 of junior high school students taken purposively from one high school in South Jakarta. The method use in this research is pre-experimental and design in one shot case study. Students who are the participants of sample have been identified misconception on the electrical circuit material by using the Diagnostic Test of Simple Electricity Circuit. The results of this study found that TBA can replace the misconceptions of the concept possessed by students with scientific truths conveyed in the text in a way that is easily understood so that TBA is strongly recommended to use in other physics materials.

Concept Inventory Development Reveals Common Student Misconceptions about Microbiology †

PubMed Central

Briggs, Amy G.; Hughes, Lee E.; Brennan, Robert E.; Buchner, John; Horak, Rachel E. A.; Amburn, D. Sue Katz; McDonald, Ann H.; Primm, Todd P.; Smith, Ann C.; Stevens, Ann M.; Yung, Sunny B.; Paustian, Timothy D.

2017-01-01

Misconceptions, or alternative conceptions, are incorrect understandings that students have incorporated into their prior knowledge. The goal of this study was the identification of misconceptions in microbiology held by undergraduate students upon entry into an introductory, general microbiology course. This work was the first step in developing a microbiology concept inventory based on the American Society for Microbiology’s Recommended Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Microbiology. Responses to true/false (T/F) questions accompanied by written explanations by undergraduate students at a diverse set of institutions were used to reveal misconceptions for fundamental microbiology concepts. These data were analyzed to identify the most difficult core concepts, misalignment between explanations and answer choices, and the most common misconceptions for each core concept. From across the core concepts, nineteen misconception themes found in at least 5% of the coded answers for a given question were identified. The top five misconceptions, with coded responses ranging from 19% to 43% of the explanations, are described, along with suggested classroom interventions. Identification of student misconceptions in microbiology provides a foundation upon which to understand students’ prior knowledge and to design appropriate tools for improving instruction in microbiology. PMID:29854046

A comparative cross-cultural study of the prevalence and nature of misconceptions in physics amongst English and Chinese undergraduate students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abrahams, Ian; Homer, Matt; Sharpe, Rachael; Zhou, Mengyuan

2015-01-01

Background:Despite the large body of literature regarding student misconceptions, there has been relatively little cross-cultural research to directly compare the prevalence of common scientific misconceptions amongst students from different cultural backgrounds. Whilst previous research does suggest the international nature of many misconceptions, there is little evidence as to whether the prevalence of such common misconceptions varies from culture to culture. Purpose:To undertake a preliminary examination of the prevalence and reasons for some previously studied scientific misconceptions amongst English and Chinese undergraduate students so as to ascertain whether there is any evidence of cultural difference. Such a finding could help to identify teaching approaches in either country that are more effective in reducing the prevalence of common student misconceptions. Sample:The study involved a convenience sample of 40 undergraduate students - 20 English and 20 Chinese drawn equally from two universities in the North of England - whose formal science education ended at ages 16 and 15 respectively. Design and methods:The study employed semi-structured interview schedule containing eight questions. Results:Whilst similar misconceptions existed amongst both English and Chinese undergraduates, their prevalence was significantly higher amongst the English students (Overall mean score for scientifically correct answers amongst Chinese students was 27.7% higher, p < .01, r = .64). Often when English and Chinese undergraduates had similar misconceptions, they tended to explain these by drawing upon very similar erroneous analogies and these appear to be only nominally culturally independent in that they are based on globally shared everyday experiences. Conclusion:Differences in the prevalence of misconceptions amongst English and Chinese undergraduates appear to arise from differences in the way in which specific areas of physics are taught in both countries. It might be possible to reduce the prevalence of misconceptions in both countries if a better understanding could be developed of how, and why, undergraduates use certain erroneous analogies, and why some teaching approaches seem more effective in reducing the prevalence of misconceptions than others.

Re-Conceptualizing Research Misconceptions: Top Ten Myths Demystified

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Maamari, Faisal S.

2016-01-01

It is generally acknowledged that novice researchers may not be adequately prepared to engage in/with research and that an increasingly widening divide exists between researchers and teachers, and therefore between research and practice. To explore this gap, this paper addresses ten of the most popular misconceptions novice researchers hold in…

Secondary School Students' Misconceptions about Simple Electric Circuits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Küçüközer, Hüseyin; Kocakülah, Sabri

2007-01-01

The aim of this study is to reveal secondary school students' misconceptions about simple electric circuits and to define whether specific misconceptions peculiar to Turkish students exist within those identified. Data were obtained with a conceptual understanding test for simple electric circuits and semi-structured interviews. Conceptual…

Misconceptions of Students and Teachers in Chemical Equilibrium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banerjee, Anil C.

1991-01-01

Written test was developed and administered to diagnose misconceptions in different areas of chemical equilibrium among 162 undergraduate chemistry students and 69 teachers of chemistry. Responses reveal widespread misconceptions among students and teachers in areas related to the prediction of equilibrium conditions, rate and equilibrium,…

Diagnosing Portuguese Students' Misconceptions about the Mineral Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monteiro, Antonio; Nobrega, Clevio; Abrantes, Isabel; Gomes, Celeste

2012-01-01

Educational researchers and teachers are well aware that misconceptions--erroneous ideas that differ from the scientifically accepted ones--are very common amongst students. Daily experiences, creative and perceptive thinking and science textbooks give rise to students' misconceptions which lead them to draw erroneous conclusions that become…

Diagnosing Portuguese Students' Misconceptions about the Mineral Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monteiro, António; Nóbrega, Clévio; Abrantes, Isabel; Gomes, Celeste

2012-11-01

Educational researchers and teachers are well aware that misconceptions-erroneous ideas that differ from the scientifically accepted ones-are very common amongst students. Daily experiences, creative and perceptive thinking and science textbooks give rise to students' misconceptions which lead them to draw erroneous conclusions that become strongly attached to their views and somehow affect subsequent learning. The main scope of this study was to understand what students consider a mineral to be and why. Therefore, the goals were (1) to identify eleventh-grade students' misconceptions about the mineral concept; (2) to understand which variables (gender, parents' education level and attitude towards science) influenced students' conceptions; and (3) to create teaching tools for the prevention of misconceptions. In order to achieve these goals, a diagnostic instrument (DI), constituted of a two-tier diagnostic test and a Science Attitude Questionnaire, was developed to be used with a sample of 89 twelfth-grade students from five schools located in central Portugal. As far as we know, this is the first DI developed for the analysis of misconceptions about the mineral concept. Data analysis allows us to conclude that students had serious difficulties in understanding the mineral concept, having easily formed misconceptions. The variables gender and parents' education level influence certain students' conceptions. This study provides a valuable basis for reflection on teaching and learning strategies, especially on this particular theme.

Student Acquisition of Biological Evolution-Related Misconceptions: The Role of Public High School Introductory Biology Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yates, Tony Brett

2011-01-01

In order to eliminate student misconceptions concerning biological evolution, it is important to identify their sources. The purposes of this study were to: (a) identify biological evolution-related misconceptions held by Oklahoma public high school Biology I teachers; (b) identify biological evolution-related misconceptions held by Oklahoma…

Misconceptions of Selected Science Concepts Held by Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doran, Rodney L.

1972-01-01

Describes a test, administered as a motion picture, designed to measure misconceptions about the particle model of matter held by students in grades two through six. Reliability values for tests of eight misconceptions are given and the correlations of misconception scores with measures of IQ, reading, mathematics, and science ability reported.…

Investigation to reduce students’ misconception in energy material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wijayanti, M. D.; Raharjo, S. B.; Saputro, S.; Mulyani, S.

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study is to analyse the misconception of Teacher Candidate of Elementary School (PGSD) on energy materials. This research is expected to be a common misconception in teaching and learning activities. One solution to overcome misconceptions is by investigation. This study uses qualitative research. The subject of this research needs 35 students. Data analysis is done by comparing the observation and test results. The results of this study is the result of students learning outcomes through cycle I and cycle II. The first cycle is due to overweight misconceptions of 18.57% and cycle II of 35.71%. Misconception can be caused by a procedural negligence. Students of PGSD Are examined to show if they understood in a simple movement problem which needs a neverse proportionality concept, to find out a way to prevent misunderstanding. The examination may consist of the question of energy materials by different representation for each student. The conceptual knowledge of the students show incorrectness because they feel confused of existing knowledge they got in their daily lives. It can cause scientific misunderstanding. The declining in student misconceptions is caused by investigation process. Search and data collection are helpful in improving their thinking skills.

Omani Twelfth Grade Students' Most Common Misconceptions in Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Balushi, Sulaiman M.; Ambusaidi, Abdullah K.; Al-Shuaili, Ali H.; Taylor, Neil

2012-01-01

The current study, undertaken in the Sultanate of Oman, explored twelfth grade students' common misconceptions in seven chemistry conceptual areas. The sample included 786 twelfth grade students in Oman while the instrument was a two-tier test called Chemistry Misconceptions Diagnostic Test (CMDT), consisting of 25 items with 12 items…

Re-Examining the Similarities between Teacher and Student Conceptions about Physical Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burgoon, Jacob N.; Heddle, Mandy L.; Duran, Emilio

2010-01-01

There is a large body of research that has explored students' misconceptions about science phenomena. Less research, however, has been devoted to identifying teachers' misconceptions, but the results of the few existing studies demonstrate that teachers and students possess similar misconceptions. This study explored the physical science…

Identifying and Remediating Student Misconceptions in Introductory Biology via Writing-to-Learn Assignments and Peer Review.

PubMed

Halim, Audrey S; Finkenstaedt-Quinn, Solaire A; Olsen, Laura J; Gere, Anne Ruggles; Shultz, Ginger V

2018-06-01

Student misconceptions are an obstacle in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses and unless remediated may continue causing difficulties in learning as students advance in their studies. Writing-to-learn assignments (WTL) are characterized by their ability to promote in-depth conceptual learning by allowing students to explore their understanding of a topic. This study sought to determine whether and what types of misconceptions are elicited by WTL assignments and how the process of peer review and revision leads to remediation or propagation of misconceptions. We examined four WTL assignments in an introductory biology course in which students first wrote about content by applying it to a realistic scenario, then participated in a peer-review process before revising their work. Misconceptions were identified in all four assignments, with the greatest number pertaining to protein structure and function. Additionally, in certain contexts, students used scientific terminology incorrectly. Analysis of the drafts and peer-review comments generated six profiles by which misconceptions were addressed through the peer-review process. The prevalent mode of remediation arose through directed peer-review comments followed by correction during revision. It was also observed that additional misconceptions were elicited as students revised their writing in response to general peer-review suggestions.

The Development of a Web-Based Assessment System to Identify Students' Misconception Automatically on Linear Kinematics with a Four-Tier Instrument Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pujayanto, Pujayanto; Budiharti, Rini; Adhitama, Egy; Nuraini, Niken Rizky Amalia; Putri, Hanung Vernanda

2018-01-01

This research proposes the development of a web-based assessment system to identify students' misconception. The system, named WAS (web-based assessment system), can identify students' misconception profile on linear kinematics automatically after the student has finished the test. The test instrument was developed and validated. Items were…

Differences in Brain Activation between Novices and Experts in Science during a Task Involving a Common Misconception in Electricity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masson, Steve; Potvin, Patrice; Riopel, Martin; Foisy, Lorie-Marlène Brault

2014-01-01

Science education studies have revealed that students often have misconceptions about how nature works, but what happens to misconceptions after a conceptual change remains poorly understood. Are misconceptions rejected and replaced by scientific conceptions, or are they still present in students' minds, coexisting with newly acquired…

Development and Application of a Novel Rasch-based Methodology for Evaluating Multi-Tiered Assessment Instruments: Validation and utilization of an undergraduate diagnostic test of the water cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romine, William L.; Schaffer, Dane L.; Barrow, Lloyd

2015-11-01

We describe the development and validation of a three-tiered diagnostic test of the water cycle (DTWC) and use it to evaluate the impact of prior learning experiences on undergraduates' misconceptions. While most approaches to instrument validation take a positivist perspective using singular criteria such as reliability and fit with a measurement model, we extend this to a multi-tiered approach which supports multiple interpretations. Using a sample of 130 undergraduate students from two colleges, we utilize the Rasch model to place students and items along traditional one-, two-, and three-tiered scales as well as a misconceptions scale. In the three-tiered and misconceptions scales, high confidence was indicative of mastery. In the latter scale, a 'misconception' was defined as mastery of an incorrect concept. We found that integrating confidence into mastery did little to change item functioning; however, three-tiered usage resulted in higher reliability and lower student ability estimates than two-tiered usage. The misconceptions scale showed high efficacy in predicting items on which particular students were likely to express misconceptions, and revealed several tenacious misconceptions that all students were likely to express regardless of ability. Previous coursework on the water cycle did little to change the prevalence of undergraduates' misconceptions.

A Comparative Cross-Cultural Study of the Prevalence and Nature of Misconceptions in Physics amongst English and Chinese Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrahams, Ian; Homer, Matt; Sharpe, Rachael; Zhou, Mengyuan

2015-01-01

Background: Despite the large body of literature regarding student misconceptions, there has been relatively little cross-cultural research to directly compare the prevalence of common scientific misconceptions amongst students from different cultural backgrounds. Whilst previous research does suggest the international nature of many…

"Holes" in Student Understanding: Addressing Prevalent Misconceptions regarding Atmospheric Environmental Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Sara C.; Walz, Kenneth A.

2007-01-01

There is a misconception among undergraduate students that global warming is caused by holes in the ozone layer. In this study, we evaluated the presence of this and other misconceptions surrounding atmospheric chemistry that are responsible for the entanglement of the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole in students' conceptual frameworks. We…

Analysis of the Misconceptions of 7th Grade Students on Polygons and Specific Quadrilaterals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozkan, Mustafa; Bal, Ayten Pinar

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study will find out student misconceptions about geometrical figures, particularly polygons and quadrilaterals. Thus, it will offer insights into teaching these concepts. The objective of this study, the question of "What are the misconceptions of seventh grade students on polygons and quadrilaterals?" constitutes the…

Change in Elementary School Students' Misconceptions on Material Systems after a Theoretical-Practical Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cañada-Cañada, Florentina; González-Gómez, David; Airado-Rodríguez, Diego; Melo Niño, Lina Viviana; Dávila Acedo, María Antonia

2017-01-01

Students get to Elementary School with a series of misconceptions which are not necessarily in agreement with the scientific knowledge. Misconceptions result from the student's attempts to understand their previous experiences resulting from their interaction with their environment and they must be taken into account in educational practice to…

Particulate Nature of Matter Misconceptions Held by Middle and High School Students in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Özgür Kapici, Hasan; Akcay, Hakan

2016-01-01

Misconceptions are one the biggest troubles for both teachers and students. In order to have scientifically valid knowledge, students should have meaningful conceptual understanding. Researchers have been designing studies based on different teaching methods so as to reach beneficial outcomes to handle with misconceptions. In this study, the main…

An Analysis of Students' Misconceptions Concerning Photosynthesis and Respiration in Plants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Capa, Yesim; Yildirim, Ali; Ozden, M. Yasar

The aims of this study were to diagnose students' misconceptions concerning photosynthesis and respiration in plants, and to investigate reasons behind these misconceptions. The subjects were 45 ninth grade high school students and 11 high school teachers. Data were collected by interview technique. All of the interviews were audiotaped and…

Exploring Common Misconceptions and Errors about Fractions among College Students in Saudi Arabia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alghazo, Yazan M.; Alghazo, Runna

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate what common errors and misconceptions about fractions exist among Saudi Arabian college students. Moreover, the study aimed at investigating the possible explanations for the existence of such misconceptions among students. A researcher developed mathematical test aimed at identifying common errors…

A basic recursion concept inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamouda, Sally; Edwards, Stephen H.; Elmongui, Hicham G.; Ernst, Jeremy V.; Shaffer, Clifford A.

2017-04-01

Recursion is both an important and a difficult topic for introductory Computer Science students. Students often develop misconceptions about the topic that need to be diagnosed and corrected. In this paper, we report on our initial attempts to develop a concept inventory that measures student misconceptions on basic recursion topics. We present a collection of misconceptions and difficulties encountered by students when learning introductory recursion as presented in a typical CS2 course. Based on this collection, a draft concept inventory in the form of a series of questions was developed and evaluated, with the question rubric tagged to the list of misconceptions and difficulties.

Students’ misconceptions on solubility equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiowati, H.; Utomo, S. B.; Ashadi

2018-05-01

This study investigated the students’ misconceptions of the solubility equilibrium. The participants of the study consisted of 164 students who were in the science class of second year high school. Instrument used is two-tier diagnostic test consisting of 15 items. Responses were marked and coded into four categories: understanding, misconception, understand little without misconception, and not understanding. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 45 students according to their written responses which reflected different perspectives, to obtain a more elaborated source of data. Data collected from multiple methods were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on the data analysis showed that the students misconceptions in all areas in solubility equilibrium. They had more misconceptions such as in the relation of solubility and solubility product, common-ion effect and pH in solubility, and precipitation concept.

Is DNA Alive? A Study of Conceptual Change Through Targeted Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witzig, Stephen B.; Freyermuth, Sharyn K.; Siegel, Marcelle A.; Izci, Kemal; Pires, J. Chris

2013-08-01

We are involved in a project to incorporate innovative assessments within a reform-based large-lecture biochemistry course for nonmajors. We not only assessed misconceptions but purposefully changed instruction throughout the semester to confront student ideas. Our research questions targeted student conceptions of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) along with understanding in what ways classroom discussions/activities influence student conceptions. Data sources included pre-/post-assessments, semi-structured interviews, and student work on exams/assessments. We found that students held misconceptions about the chemical nature of DNA, with 63 % of students claiming that DNA is alive prior to instruction. The chemical nature of DNA is an important fundamental concept in science fields. We confronted this misconception throughout the semester collecting data from several instructional interventions. Case studies of individual students revealed how various instructional strategies/assessments allowed students to construct and demonstrate the scientifically accepted understanding of the chemical nature of DNA. However, the post-assessment exposed that 40 % of students still held misconceptions about DNA, indicating the persistent nature of this misconception. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed.

Identifying Novice Student Programming Misconceptions and Errors from Summative Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veerasamy, Ashok Kumar; D'Souza, Daryl; Laakso, Mikko-Jussi

2016-01-01

This article presents a study aimed at examining the novice student answers in an introductory programming final e-exam to identify misconceptions and types of errors. Our study used the Delphi concept inventory to identify student misconceptions and skill, rule, and knowledge-based errors approach to identify the types of errors made by novices…

Misconceptions and Conceptual Changes Concerning Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics among Portuguese Students Aged 16-17.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marques, Luis; Thompson, David

1997-01-01

This study investigates student misconceptions in the areas of continent, ocean, permanence of ocean basins, continental drift, Earth's magnetic field, and plates and plate motions. A teaching-learning model was designed based on a constructivist approach. Results show that students held a substantial number of misconceptions. (Author/DKM)

Two-Dimensional, Implicit Confidence Tests as a Tool for Recognizing Student Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klymkowsky, Michael W.; Taylor, Linda B.; Spindler, Shana R.; Garvin-Doxas, R. Kathy

2006-01-01

The misconceptions that students bring with them, or that arise during instruction, are a critical barrier to learning. Implicit-confidence tests, a simple modification of the multiple-choice test, can be used as a strategy for recognizing student misconceptions. An important issue, however, is whether such tests are gender-neutral. We analyzed…

Fundamental Research in Engineering Education. Identifying and Repairing Student Misconceptions in Thermal and Transport Science: Concept Inventories and Schema Training Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Ronald L.; Streveler, Ruth A.; Yang, Dazhi; Roman, Aidsa I. Santiago

2011-01-01

This paper summarizes progress on two related lines of chemical engineering education research: 1) identifying persistent student misconceptions in thermal and transport science (fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and thermodynamics); and, 2) developing a method to help students repair these misconceptions. Progress on developing the Thermal and…

Myths and misconceptions about tuberculosis transmission in Ghana

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Myths and misconceptions about TB can serve as a barrier to efforts at reducing stigmatisation of people infected and affected by the disease. Understanding such drivers of myths and misconceptions is important for improving information, education and communication (IEC) efforts of national control and preventive interventions. This study therefore assesses the influence of interaction of spatial, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics on myths and misconceptions. Methods Data was drawn from male (N = 4,546) and female (N = 4,916) files of the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. A myth and misconception variable was created from five-related constructs with internal consistency score of r = 0. 8802 for males (inter-item correlation: 0.5951) and for females, r = 0. 0.9312 (inter-item correlation: 0.7303). The Pearson Chi-square was used to test the bivariate relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Logistic regression was subsequently used to explore the factors determining myths and misconceptions of TB transmission. Results Majority of Ghanaians (males: 66.75%; females: 66.13%) did not hold myths and misconceptions about TB transmission. Females resident in the Upper East (aOR = 0.31, CI = 0.17-0.55) and Upper West (aOR = 0.41, CI = 0.24-0.69) and males resident in the Northern (aOR = 0.23, CI = 0.13-0.39) and the Greater Accra (aOR = 0.25, CI = 0.16-0.39) regions were independently associated with no misconceptions about TB transmission. Significant differences were also found in education, ethnicity and age. Conclusion That spatial and other socioeconomic difference exists in myths and misconceptions suggest the need for spatial, socioeconomic and demographic segmentations in IEC on TB. This holds potentials for reaching out to those who are in critical need of information and education on the transmission processes of TB. PMID:24028419

Heating up Climate Literacy Education: Understanding Teachers' and Students' Motivational and Affective Response to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinatra, G. M.

2011-12-01

Changing students' ideas about controversial scientific issues, such as human-induced climate change, presents unique challenges for educators (Lombardi & Sinatra, 2010; Sinatra & Mason, 2008). First, climate science is complex and requires "systems thinking," or the ability to think and reason abstractly about emergent systems (Goldstone & Sakamoto, 2003). Appreciating the intricacies of complex systems and emergent processes has proven challenging for students (Chi, 2005). In addition to these challenges, there are specific misconceptions that may lead thinking astray on the issue of global climate change, such as the distinction between weather and climate (Lombardi & Sinatra, 2010). As an example, when students are asked about their views on climate change, they often recall individual storm events or very cold periods and use their personal experiences and recollections of short-term temperature fluctuations to assess whether the planet is warming. Beyond the conceptual difficulties, controversial topics offer another layer of challenge. Such topics are often embedded in complex socio-cultural and political contexts, have a high degree of uncertainty, and may be perceived by individuals as in conflict with their personal or religious beliefs (Levinson, 2006, Sinatra, Kardash, Taasoobshirazi, & Lombardi, 2011). Individuals are often committed to their own views on socio-scientific issues and this commitment may serve as a motivation to actively resist new ideas (Dole & Sinatra, 1998). Individuals may also have strong emotions associated with their misconceptions (Broughton, Pekrun, & Sinatra, 2011). Negative emotions, misconceptions, and resistance do not make a productive combination for learning. Further, teachers who find human-induced climate change implausible have been shown to hold negative emotions about having to teach about climate change (Lombardi & Sinatra, in preparation), which could affect how they present the topic to students. In this presentation, findings from a research program exploring the role of "hot constructs" such as motivation and emotion in teaching and learning about climate change will be shared. In these studies, we have explored constructs such as emotions, misconceptions, plausibility perceptions, understanding deep time, and dispositions towards uncertainty. Results from four studies will be highlighted. In the first study, we demonstrated that comfort with ambiguity and a willingness to think deeply about issues predicted both change in attitudes towards climate change and expressed willingness to take mitigative action in college students (Sinatra, et al. 2011). In another study with college students, we demonstrated that knowledge of deep time and plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change were related to students' understanding of weather and climate distinctions (Lombardi & Sinatra, 2010). In a study with graduate education students, we found that misconceptions about climate change were associated with strong emotions (Broughton, et al., 2011). With practicing teachers we have found that emotions, specifically anger and hopelessness, were significant predictors of plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change (Lombardi & Sinatra, in preparation). The implications for climate change education of the findings will be discussed.

An Analogy-Based Computer Tutor for Remediating Physics Misconceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Tom; And Others

1990-01-01

Describes an intelligent tutoring system designed to help students remedy misconceptions of physics concepts based on a teaching strategy called bridging analogies. Highlights include tutoring strategies; misconceptions in science education; the example situation network; confidence checking; formative evaluation with college students, including…

A psychometric evaluation of the digital logic concept inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herman, Geoffrey L.; Zilles, Craig; Loui, Michael C.

2014-10-01

Concept inventories hold tremendous promise for promoting the rigorous evaluation of teaching methods that might remedy common student misconceptions and promote deep learning. The measurements from concept inventories can be trusted only if the concept inventories are evaluated both by expert feedback and statistical scrutiny (psychometric evaluation). Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory provide two psychometric frameworks for evaluating the quality of assessment tools. We discuss how these theories can be applied to assessment tools generally and then apply them to the Digital Logic Concept Inventory (DLCI). We demonstrate that the DLCI is sufficiently reliable for research purposes when used in its entirety and as a post-course assessment of students' conceptual understanding of digital logic. The DLCI can also discriminate between students across a wide range of ability levels, providing the most information about weaker students' ability levels.

Thai High-School Students' Misconceptions about and Models of Light Refraction through a Planar Surface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaewkhong, Kreetha; Mazzolini, Alex; Emarat, Narumon; Arayathanitkul, Kwan

2010-01-01

This article investigates the optics misconceptions of 220 year 11 Thai high-school students. These misconceptions became apparent when the students attempted to explain how an object submerged in a water tank is "seen" by an observer looking into the tank from above and at an angle. The two diagnostic questions used in the study probe…

Misconceptions about "Misconceptions": Preservice Secondary Science Teachers' Views on the Value and Role of Student Ideas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larkin, Douglas

2012-01-01

There remains a lack of agreement in the field of science education as to whether student "misconceptions" ought to be considered obstacles or resources, and this has implications for the ways in which prospective teachers think about the value of their students' ideas. This empirical study examines how 14 preservice secondary science teachers in…

Sources of Student Errors and Misconceptions in Algebra and Effectiveness of Classroom Practice Remediation in Machakos County--Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulungye, Mary M.; O'Connor, Miheso; Ndethiu, S.

2016-01-01

This paper is based on a study which sought to examine the various errors and misconceptions committed by students in algebra with the view to exposing the nature and origin of the errors and misconceptions in secondary schools in Machakos district. Teachers' knowledge on students' errors was investigated together with strategies for remedial…

Common Student Misconceptions in Exercise Physiology and Biochemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morton, James P.; Doran, Dominic A.; MacLaren, Don P. M.

2008-01-01

The present study represents a preliminary investigation designed to identify common misconceptions in students' understanding of physiological and biochemical topics within the academic domain of sport and exercise sciences. A specifically designed misconception inventory (consisting of 10 multiple-choice questions) was administered to a cohort…

Two-Year Community: Resolving Misconceptions through Student Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tawde, Mangala; Boccio, Dona; Kolack, Kevin

2017-01-01

Students arrive in college with significant prior knowledge including misconceptions that hinder their ability to learn new concepts correctly. Misconceptions, or "alternative beliefs," have been widely studied in the physical sciences at higher education institutions; however, there is a paucity of research concerning the community…

Black Boxes in Analytical Chemistry: University Students' Misconceptions of Instrumental Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carbo, Antonio Domenech; Adelantado, Jose Vicente Gimeno; Reig, Francisco Bosch

2010-01-01

Misconceptions of chemistry and chemical engineering university students concerning instrumental analysis have been established from coordinated tests, tutorial interviews and laboratory lessons. Misconceptions can be divided into: (1) formal, involving specific concepts and formulations within the general frame of chemistry; (2)…

MENO-II: An AI-Based Programming Tutor.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-08-01

TUTORing component then attempts to infer the misconception that might underlie the bug and present the student with remedial instruction. We tested the BUG...of the student’s program. The TUTORing component then attempts to inter the misconception that might underlie the bug and present the student with... student errors, MENO-11 can cope with 18 different types of program bugs. These bugs are tied explicitly to a knowledge base of potential misconceptions

Misconceptions about Sound among Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pejuan, Arcadi; Bohigas, Xavier; Jaen, Xavier; Periago, Cristina

2012-01-01

Our first objective was to detect misconceptions about the microscopic nature of sound among senior university students enrolled in different engineering programmes (from chemistry to telecommunications). We sought to determine how these misconceptions are expressed (qualitative aspect) and, only very secondarily, to gain a general idea of the…

Identifying Students' Misconceptions in Writing Balanced Equations for Dissolving Ionic Compounds in Water and Using Multiple-Choice Questions at the Symbolic and Particulate Levels to Confront These Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naah, Basil M.

2012-01-01

Students who harbor misconceptions often find chemistry difficult to understand. To improve teaching about the dissolving process, first semester introductory chemistry students were asked to complete a free-response questionnaire on writing balanced equations for dissolving ionic compounds in water. To corroborate errors and misconceptions…

Supporting the learning of Newton's laws with graphical data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piggott, David

Teaching physics provides the opportunity for a very unique interaction between students and instructor that is not found in chemistry or biology. Physics has a heavy emphasis on trying to alter students' misconceptions about how things work in the real word. In chemistry and microbiology this is not an issue because the topics of discussion in those classes are a new experience for the students. In the case of physics the students have everyday experience with the different concepts discussed. This causes the students to build incorrect mental models explaining how different things work. In order to correct these mental models physics teachers must first get the students to vocalize these misconceptions. Then the teacher must confront the students with an example that exposes the false nature of their model. Finally, the teacher must help the student resolve these discrepancies and form the correct model. This study attempts to resolve these discrepancies by giving the students concrete evidence via graphs of Newton's laws. The results reported here indicate that this method of eliciting the misconception, confronting the misconception, and resolving the misconception is successful with Newton's third law, but only marginally successful for first and second laws.

Misconceptions About Sound Among Engineering Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pejuan, Arcadi; Bohigas, Xavier; Jaén, Xavier; Periago, Cristina

2012-12-01

Our first objective was to detect misconceptions about the microscopic nature of sound among senior university students enrolled in different engineering programmes (from chemistry to telecommunications). We sought to determine how these misconceptions are expressed (qualitative aspect) and, only very secondarily, to gain a general idea of the extent to which they are held (quantitative aspect). Our second objective was to explore other misconceptions about wave aspects of sound. We have also considered the degree of consistency in the model of sound used by each student. Forty students answered a questionnaire including open-ended questions. Based on their free, spontaneous answers, the main results were as follows: a large majority of students answered most of the questions regarding the microscopic model of sound according to the scientifically accepted model; however, only a small number answered consistently. The main model misconception found was the notion that sound is propagated through the travelling of air particles, even in solids. Misconceptions and mental-model inconsistencies tended to depend on the engineering programme in which the student was enrolled. However, students in general were inconsistent also in applying their model of sound to individual sound properties. The main conclusion is that our students have not truly internalised the scientifically accepted model that they have allegedly learnt. This implies a need to design learning activities that take these findings into account in order to be truly efficient.

Identification misconception of primary school teacher education students in changes of matters using a five-tier diagnostic test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayuni, T. C.; Sopandi, W.; Sujana, A.

2018-05-01

This research was conducted on third grade students (III) semester six, with sample number 84 respondents. The method used in this research is descriptive method. This article identifies the misconceptions of Primary School Teacher Education students by using a five tier diagnostic test research instrument, a question adapted to three chemical representations accompanied by an open reason and a level of confidence in the choice of answers. The categorization of the five tier diagnostic test scoring is divided into four namely, understand the concept, lack of concept, misconception and not understand the concept. Questionnaire in the form of a closed questionnaire is used to determine the factors that cause misconception. The data obtained is misconception has the highest percentage on the concept of substance properties and changes in its form. The highest incidence of misconceptions is due to self-factors. The conclusion is that five tier diagnostic tests can be used to uncover misconceptions of elementary school teachers and assist teachers in presenting lesson material tailored to the chemical representation so that students can understand the concept of the nature of matter and change its form well.

Case Study: Formulating Questions That Address Student Misconceptions in a Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prud'homme-Généreux, Annie

2017-01-01

Misconceptions are sometimes called "alternative conceptions" in acknowledgement of the fact that although these concepts are inaccurate, they are congruent with prior experiences. The idea that misconceptions must be addressed to improve learning is helpful to remember when developing a case study. Students will bring their existing…

Teaching Projectile Motion to Eliminate Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prescott, Anne; Mitchelmore, Michael

2005-01-01

Student misconceptions of projectile motion are well documented, but their effect on the teaching and learning of the mathematics of motion under gravity has not been investigated. An experimental unit was designed that was intended to confront and eliminate misconceptions in senior secondary school students. The approach was found to be…

Insights into Students' Conceptual Understanding Using Textual Analysis: A Case Study in Signal Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goncher, Andrea M.; Jayalath, Dhammika; Boles, Wageeh

2016-01-01

Concept inventory tests are one method to evaluate conceptual understanding and identify possible misconceptions. The multiple-choice question format, offering a choice between a correct selection and common misconceptions, can provide an assessment of students' conceptual understanding in various dimensions. Misconceptions of some engineering…

Enhancing Preservice Teachers' Understanding of Students' Misconceptions in Learning Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naah, Basil Mugaga

2015-01-01

Preservice teachers enrolled in a modified introductory chemistry course used an instructional rubric to improve and evaluate their understanding of students' misconceptions in learning various chemistry concepts. A sample of 79 preservice teachers first explored the state science standards to identify chemistry misconceptions associated with the…

Comparing the Plate-Tectonics-Related Misconceptions of High School Students and University Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kàdàr, Anett; Farsang, Andrea

2017-01-01

International research into the nature, emergence, and development of geographical misconceptions is substantial. However, Hungarian educational research lags behind in exploring this phenomenon in detail. The present study identified some plate-tectonics-related misconceptions of three distinctive groups of students: ninth-grade secondary school…

Glucose as the Sole Metabolic Fuel: Overcoming a Misconception Using Conceptual Change to Teach the Energy-Yielding Metabolism to Brazilian High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luz, Mauricio R. M. P.; Oliveira, Gabriel A.; Da Poian, Andrea T.

2013-01-01

A misconception regarding the human metabolism has been shown to be widespread among high school students. The students consider glucose as the sole metabolic fuel, disregarding that lipids and amino acids can be oxidized for ATP production by human cells. This misconception seems to be a consequence of formal teaching in grade and high schools.…

Creating Lecture Tutorials for the Introductory Geoscience Classroom with Data Found on the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) Website

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kortz, K. M.; Jager, J. M.

2006-05-01

Lecture Tutorials (LTs) are short, interactive materials used during lectures that guide student learning and challenge students to think about their own misconceptions. They are designed to be used by instructors as a simple way to increase the amount of interactive learning in their classroom. We developed several geoscience LTs, using data sets found on the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) website when possible, in order to address the problems of student misconceptions and lack of appreciation of science. After a short lecture, the students were given 3 to 4 multiple choice questions about the material covered. They then worked in groups on an LT, participated in a class discussion and answered a second similar question set to test for additional learning. Based on the results of one author's students, the materials were revised and retested with the other's students. Student interviews were conducted to determine the role data sets played in changing student attitudes toward science. LTs in this study were written with two different purposes. One set focused on data interpretation and scientific methods using real-world data sets found on DLESE. We found little to no increase in pre-LT and post-LT performance on the question sets when these LTs were used. The other set of LTs specifically tackled misconceptions about a single geologic topic. Students showed a significant increase in pre-LT and post-LT learning based on the questions sets when these LTs were used. LTs that successfully decreased student misconceptions did not require the use of real-world data sets. We identified several factors influencing student performance on the pre- and post-LT questions, in addition to whether or not the LT focused on including data sets or tackling misconceptions. The distracters in the questions need to include the student misconceptions to verify the students have changed their understanding. This demonstrates a need for a large database of well-written and tested questions to use for evaluation purposes. If lectures are well-designed, effective, and address the focus of the LT, then the increase in student performance on the questions is reduced. However, students still have difficulties with not changing their previously-held conceptions which shows why the LTs are so effective when they address misconceptions - misconceptions cannot be overcome by simply listening to a lecture.

Discovering and Understanding Misconceptions in Fifth grade Academic Content Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hicks, Adam; Blue, Jennifer

2008-10-01

Misconceptions are known to be prevalent among students, especially younger students. However, misconceptions can become engrained in the scientific thought process and linger throughout a person's life. This study examines the results on test questions regarding the physical and space science from the fifth grade Ohio Academic Content Standards (Ohio Department of Education, 2003). Tests have been developed to evaluate the Southwest Ohio Science Institutes (http://www.units.muohio.edu/sosi), which teach content knowledge to teachers. These tests have been given to fifth grade teachers who participated in the institutes and to their students. The same questions were also given to university students. Eventually, the results from all three groups will be compared to find the persistence of misconceptions. This presentation will focus on the results from the university students.

How Do Students Misunderstand Number Representations?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, Geoffrey L.; Zilles, Craig; Loui, Michael C.

2011-01-01

We used both student interviews and diagnostic testing to reveal students' misconceptions about number representations in computing systems. This article reveals that students who have passed an undergraduate level computer organization course still possess surprising misconceptions about positional notations, two's complement representation, and…

Using Test Data to Find Misconceptions in Secondary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuchs, Travis T.; Arsenault, Mike

2017-01-01

Students, as well as teachers, often learn what makes sense to them, even when it is wrong. These misconceptions are a problem. The authors sought a quick, quantitative way of identifying student misconceptions in secondary science. Using the University of Toronto's National Biology Competition test data, this article presents a method of quickly…

Remediating Misconception on Climate Change among Secondary School Students in Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpudewan, Mageswary; Roth, Wolff-Michael; Chandrakesan, Kasturi

2015-01-01

Existing studies report on secondary school students' misconceptions related to climate change; they also report on the methods of teaching as reinforcing misconceptions. This quasi-experimental study was designed to test the null hypothesis that a curriculum based on constructivist principles does not lead to greater understanding and fewer…

Understandings and Misunderstandings of Eight Graders of Five Chemistry Concepts Found in Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abraham, Michael R.; And Others

1992-01-01

Reports on misconceptions held by intermediate grade students concerning chemistry textbook concepts, on the relation of reasoning ability to those misconceptions, and on the extent that textbooks encourage misconceptions. Concludes that the level of understanding displayed for the selected concepts, in combination with the nature of students'…

Relieving of Misconceptions of Derivative Concept with Derive

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Abdullah; Ozturk, Mesut; Ocal, Mehmet Fatih

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine students' learning levels in derivative subjects and their misconceptions. In addition, this study aims to compared to the effects of the computer based instruction and traditional instruction in resolving these misconceptions. For this purpose, 12th grade 70 students were chosen from high schools in Agri…

Relieving of Misconceptions of Derivative Concept with Derive

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Abdullah; Ozturk, Mesut; Ocal, Mehmet Fatih

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine students' learning levels in derivative subjects and their misconceptions. In addition, this study aims to compared to the effects of the computer based instruction and traditional instruction in resolving these misconceptions. For this purpose, 70 12th grade students were chosen from high schools in Agri…

Some Misconceptions in Meiosis Shown by Students Responding to an Advanced Level Practical Examination Question in Biology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, C. R.

1990-01-01

Discussed are problems revealed in student responses to a practical task which formed part of an advanced level examination. The frequencies with which some misconceptions about cell reproduction and genetics occurred are presented. The nature of these misconceptions is analyzed and their implications discussed. (CW)

High School Students' Understanding of Food Webs: Identification of a Learning Hierarchy and Related Misconceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffiths, Alan K.; Grant, Bette A. C.

1985-01-01

Developed and validated a learning hierarchy for the concept "food web" (the hierarchy consisting of nine skill areas). Also investigated the misconceptions of 200 students related to these nine areas. Suggestions for applying the hierarchy model to remediation and resolution of the misconceptions are provided. (DH)

Student Misconceptions in Chemical Equilibrium as Related to Cognitive Level and Achievement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wheeler, Alan E.; Kass, Heidi

Reported is an investigation to determine the nature and extent of student misconceptions in chemical equilibrium and to ascertain the degree to which certain misconceptions are related to chemistry achievement and to performance on specific tasks involving cognitive transformations characteristic of the concrete and formal operational stages of…

On Misconceptions about Behavior Analysis among University Students and Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arntzen, Erik; Lokke, Jon; Lokke, Gunn; Eilertsen, Dag-Erik

2010-01-01

Students frequently show misconceptions regarding scientific psychology in general and basic concepts in behavior analysis in particular. We wanted to replicate the study by Lamal (1995) and to expand the study by including some additional statements. In the current study, the focus was on misconceptions about behavior analysis held by…

Myths and Misconceptions in Popular Psychology: Comparing Psychology Students and the General Public

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furnham, Adrian; Hughes, David J.

2014-01-01

This study examined the prevalence of psychological myths and misconceptions among psychology students and within the general population. In total, 829 participants completed a 249-item questionnaire designed to measure a broad range of psychological myths. Results revealed that psychological myths and misconceptions are numerous and widely held.…

Cultural misconceptions and public stigma against mental illness among Lebanese university students.

PubMed

Rayan, Ahmad; Fawaz, Mirna

2018-04-01

The purpose of this study was to examine cultural misconceptions about mental illness and how they are associated with the public stigma against mental illness among Lebanese university students. A sample of 203 participants completed the study. Data about cultural misconceptions, attitudes about mental illness, and public stigma of mental illness were obtained. The researchers examined the mean difference in public stigma according to cultural beliefs about mental illness. The majority of students believe that mental health professionals have inadequate knowledge and expertise to treat mental disorders. Various cultural misconceptions about mental illness were reported. Public stigma significantly differed based on these cultural misconceptions. Psychiatric nurses should play a vital role in reshaping the inappropriate cultural view about mental illness. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Conceptual Change in Introductory-Level Astronomy Courses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeilik, Michael; Bisard, Walter

2000-01-01

Reports on students' preexisting knowledge and examines misconceptions among nonscience major undergraduate students. Focuses on evaluating results of misconceptions in selected astronomy courses. (YDS)

Core Knowledge Confusions Among University Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindeman, Marjaana; Svedholm, Annika M.; Takada, Mikito; Lönnqvist, Jan-Erik; Verkasalo, Markku

2011-05-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that university students hold several paranormal beliefs and that paranormal beliefs can be best explained with core knowledge confusions. The aim of this study was to explore to what extent university students confuse the core ontological attributes of lifeless material objects (e.g. a house, a stone), living organisms (e.g. plants), and mental states (e.g., thoughts); whether some core knowledge confusions are more common than others; whether the confusions differ between students from different fields of study, and to replicate the finding that paranormal beliefs increase together with core knowledge confusions. The results showed that half of the participants considered at least four, and one quarter of the participants considered 8-30 confusion statements to be literally true and that the confusions were strongly and positively associated with the amount of paranormal beliefs. The findings indicate that university education does not abolish the misconceptions that characterize children's thinking.

The Profile of Student Misconceptions on The Human and Plant Transport Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ainiyah, M.; Ibrahim, M.; Hidayat, M. T.

2018-01-01

This research aims to identify misconceptions on the humans and plants transportation systems. The research was done in the 8th grade in Indonesia. Data were collected to use a three-tier test. This type of research was used survey design. Content analysis was used to analyze the misconception data. The results of this research were the location of misconception of each student is different. The highest misconceptions identified in this research, namely: a) arteries that drain blood to the heart (73.3%); b) veins that drain blood from the heart (70.0%); c) place of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange occurs in the veins (66.7%); d) blood pressure in veins greater than in capillaries (63.3%); e) absorption of water occurs diffusion and absorption of minerals occurs osmosis (76.7%); f) transport of photosynthesis process occurs by diffusion (66.7%); g) photosynthesis process occurs during the day (63.3%); and h) process of evaporation of water through the leaves are guttation (56.7%). The results of this research show that the level of students misconceptions on the of human and plant transport systems is still high so that it can serve as a reference to improve the learning process and the reduction of student misconceptions.

Students' Misconceptions about Medium-Scale Integrated Circuits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, G. L.; Loui, M. C.; Zilles, C.

2011-01-01

To improve instruction in computer engineering and computer science, instructors must better understand how their students learn. Unfortunately, little is known about how students learn the fundamental concepts in computing. To investigate student conceptions and misconceptions about digital logic concepts, the authors conducted a qualitative…

Observations on Student Misconceptions--A Case Study of the Build-Heap Algorithm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seppala, Otto; Malmi, Lauri; Korhonen, Ari

2006-01-01

Data structures and algorithms are core issues in computer programming. However, learning them is challenging for most students and many of them have various types of misconceptions on how algorithms work. In this study, we discuss the problem of identifying misconceptions on the principles of how algorithms work. Our context is algorithm…

Myths and Misconceptions about LGBTQ Youth: School Counselors' Role in Advocacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abreu, Roberto L.; McEachern, Adriana G.; Kenny, Maureen C.

2017-01-01

Although schools are thought to be safe environments for all students, sexual minority and gender expansive (i.e., LGBTQ) students often feel unsafe and unwelcome as a result of misconceptions about their identity. This paper explores eight commonly held myths and misconceptions about LGBTQ youth. The role of professional school counselors (PSCs)…

An Investigation of Grade 12 Students' Misconceptions Relating to Fundamental Characteristics of Molecules and Atoms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffiths, Alan Keith; Preston, Kirk R.

An understanding of the concepts of atoms and molecules is fundamental to the learning of chemistry. Any misconceptions and alternative conceptions related to these concepts which students harbor will impede much further learning. This paper identifies misconceptions related to the fundamental characteristics of atoms and molecules which Grade 12…

Case Study Analysis and the Remediation of Misconceptions about Respiratory Physiology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cliff, William H.

2006-01-01

Most students enter the physiology classroom with one or more fundamental misconceptions about respiratory physiology. This study examined the prevalence of four respiratory misconceptions and determined the role of case analysis in the remediation of one of them. A case study was used to help students learn about oxygen transport in the blood and…

Enhancing Mathematics Teachers' Knowledge of Students' Thinking from Assessing and Analyzing Misconceptions in Homework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

An, Shuhua; Wu, Zhonghe

2012-01-01

This study focuses on teacher learning of student thinking through grading homework, assessing and analyzing misconceptions. The data were collected from 10 teachers at fifth-eighth grade levels in the USA. The results show that assessing and analyzing misconceptions from grading homework is an important approach to acquiring knowledge of…

Students' Misconceptions about the Ozone Layer and the Effect of Internet-Based Media on It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gungordu, Nahide; Yalcin-Celik, Ayse; Kilic, Ziya

2017-01-01

In this study, students' misconceptions about the ozone layer were investigated, looking specifically at the effect internet-based media has on the formation of these misconceptions. Quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used to perform the research. As part of the quantitative portion of the research, the descriptive survey…

Cognitive Processes and Students' Misconceptions in Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Deborah C.

Several categories of misconceptions which appear to be emerging across studies are discussed. They include: mis-perceptions; stunted conceptions; mis-translations; confused conceptions; lost conceptions; and true misconceptions. True misconceptions are metaphors and analogies which represent truly complete systems of explanation but are…

Mathematical misconception in calculus 1: Identification and gender difference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nassir, Asyura Abd; Abdullah, Nur Hidayah Masni; Ahmad, Salimah; Tarmuji, Nor Habibah; Idris, Aminatul Solehah

2017-08-01

A few years of experience of teaching mathematics make us notice that the same types of mistakes are done repeatedly by students. This paper presents an insight into categories of mistakes, how male and female students differ in terms of mistakes that are commonly done and the ability of the students to identify the mistakes. Sample of mistakes were taken from Calculus 1 final exam answer scripts, then it was listed and analyzed. Data analysis revealed that students' misconceptions fall into four categories. The first category is misunderstanding the meaning of brackets, followed by misconception of basic mathematics rules, misconception in notation and misconception in properties of trigonometry. A mistake identification test which consists of ten false mathematical statements was designed based on the mistake done by the previous batch of students that covered topics algebra, trigonometry, index, limit, differentiation and integration. Then, the test was given to students who enrolled in Calculus I course. Respondents of this study were randomly selected among two hundreds engineering students. Data obtained were analyzed using basic descriptive analysis and Chi Square test to capture gender differences in the mistake done for each category. Findings indicate that thirty five percent of the students have the ability to identify the mistakes and make a proper correction for at most two statements. Thirty one percent of the students are able to identify the mistakes but unable to make proper correction. Twenty five percent of the students failed to identify the mistakes in six out of ten false statements. Female students' misconception is more likely in basic mathematics rules compared to male. The findings of this study could serve as baseline information to be stressed in improving teaching and learning mathematics.

One output function: a misconception of students studying digital systems - a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trotskovsky, E.; Sabag, N.

2015-05-01

Background:Learning processes are usually characterized by students' misunderstandings and misconceptions. Engineering educators intend to help their students overcome their misconceptions and achieve correct understanding of the concept. This paper describes a misconception in digital systems held by many students who believe that combinational logic circuits should have only one output. Purpose:The current study aims to investigate the roots of the misconception about one-output function and the pedagogical methods that can help students overcome the misconception. Sample:Three hundred and eighty-one students in the Departments of Electrical and Electronics and Mechanical Engineering at an academic engineering college, who learned the same topics of a digital combinational system, participated in the research. Design and method:In the initial research stage, students were taught according to traditional method - first to design a one-output combinational logic system, and then to implement a system with a number of output functions. In the main stage, an experimental group was taught using a new method whereby they were shown how to implement a system with several output functions, prior to learning about one-output systems. A control group was taught using the traditional method. In the replication stage (the third stage), an experimental group was taught using the new method. A mixed research methodology was used to examine the results of the new learning method. Results:Quantitative research showed that the new teaching approach resulted in a statistically significant decrease in student errors, and qualitative research revealed students' erroneous thinking patterns. Conclusions:It can be assumed that the traditional teaching method generates an incorrect mental model of the one-output function among students. The new pedagogical approach prevented the creation of an erroneous mental model and helped students develop the correct conceptual understanding.

Undergraduate students' misconceptions about respiratory physiology.

PubMed

Michael, J A; Richardson, D; Rovick, A; Modell, H; Bruce, D; Horwitz, B; Hudson, M; Silverthorn, D; Whitescarver, S; Williams, S

1999-12-01

Approximately 700 undergraduates studying physiology at community colleges, a liberal arts college, and universities were surveyed to determine the prevalence of our misconceptions about respiratory phenomena. A misconception about the changes in breathing frequency and tidal volume (physiological variables whose changes can be directly sensed) that result in increased minute ventilation was found to be present in this population with comparable prevalence (approximately 60%) to that seen in a previous study. Three other misconceptions involving phenomena that cannot be experienced directly and therefore were most likely learned in some educational setting were found to be of varying prevalence. Nearly 90% of the students exhibited a misconception about the relationship between arterial oxygen partial pressure and hemoglobin saturation. Sixty-six percent of the students believed that increasing alveolar oxygen partial pressure leads to a decrease in alveolar carbon dioxide partial pressure. Nearly 33% of the population misunderstood the relationship between metabolism and ventilation. The possible origins of these respiratory misconceptions are discussed and suggestions for how to prevent and/or remediate them are proposed.

Investigating Undergraduate Students' Use of Intuitive Reasoning and Evolutionary Knowledge in Explanations of Antibiotic Resistance.

PubMed

Richard, Melissa; Coley, John D; Tanner, Kimberly D

2017-01-01

Natural selection is a central concept throughout biology; however, it is a process frequently misunderstood. Bacterial resistance to antibiotic medications provides a contextual example of the relevance of evolutionary theory and is also commonly misunderstood. While research has shed light on student misconceptions of natural selection, minimal study has focused on misconceptions of antibiotic resistance. Additionally, research has focused on the degree to which misconceptions may be based in the complexity of biological information or in pedagogical choices, rather than in deep-seated cognitive patterns. Cognitive psychology research has established that humans develop early intuitive assumptions to make sense of the world. In this study, we used a written assessment tool to investigate undergraduate students' misconceptions of antibiotic resistance, use of intuitive reasoning, and application of evolutionary knowledge to antibiotic resistance. We found a majority of students produced and agreed with misconceptions, and intuitive reasoning was present in nearly all students' written explanations. Acceptance of a misconception was significantly associated with production of a hypothesized form of intuitive thinking (all p ≤ 0.05). Intuitive reasoning may represent a subtle but innately appealing linguistic shorthand, and instructor awareness of intuitive reasoning's relation to student misunderstandings has potential for addressing persistent misconceptions. © 2017 M. Richard et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Development and Evaluation of a Three-Tier Diagnostic Test to Assess Undergraduate Primary Teachers' Understanding of Ecological Footprint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liampa, Vasiliki; Malandrakis, George N.; Papadopoulou, Penelope; Pnevmatikos, Dimitrios

2017-08-01

This study focused on the development and validation of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic instrument about the ecological footprint. Each question in the three-tier test comprised by; (a) the content tier, assessing content knowledge; (b) the reason tier, assessing explanatory knowledge; and (c) the confidence tier that differentiates lack of knowledge from misconception through the use of a certainty response index. Based on the literature, the propositional knowledge statements and the identified misconceptions of 97 student-teachers, a first version of the test was developed and subsequently administered to another group of 219 student-teachers from Primary and Early Childhood Education Departments. Due to the complexity of the ecological footprint concept, and that it is a newly introduced concept, unknown to the public, both groups have been previously exposed to relevant instruction. Experts in the field established face and content validity. The reliability, in terms of Cronbach's alpha, was found adequate (α = 0.839), and the test-retest reliability, as indicated by Pearson r, was also satisfactory (0.554). The mean performance of the students was 56.24% in total score, 59.75% in content tiers and 48.05% in reason tiers. A variety of concepts about the ecological footprint were also observed. The test can help educators to understand the alternative views that students hold about the ecological footprint concept and assist them in developing the concept through appropriately designed teaching methods and materials.

Moving Beyond Misconceptions: A New Model for Learning Challenges in Cognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, T. F.; Slater, S. J.

2011-12-01

For over 40 years, the science education community has given its attention to cataloging the substantial body of "misconceptions" in individual's thinking about science, and to addressing the consequences of those misconceptions in the science classroom. Despite the tremendous amount of effort given to researching and disseminating information related to misconceptions, and the development of a theory of conceptual change to mitigate misconceptions, progress continues to be less than satisfying. An analysis of the literature and our own research has persuaded the CAPER Center for Astronomy and Physics Education Research to put forth model that will allow us to operate on students' learning difficulties in a more fruitful manner. Previously, much of the field's work binned erroneous student thinking into a single construct, and from that basis, curriculum developers and instructors addressed student misconceptions with a single instructional strategy. In contrast this model suggests that "misconceptions" are a mixture of at least four learning barriers: incorrect factual information, inappropriately applied mental algorithms (phenomenological primitives), insufficient cognitive structures (e.g. spatial reasoning), and affective/emotional difficulties. Each of these types of barriers should be addressed with an appropriately designed instructional strategy. Initial applications of this model to learning problems in the Earth & Space Sciences have been fruitful, suggesting that an effort towards categorizing persistent learning difficulties in the geosciences beyond the level of "misconceptions" may allow our community to craft tailored and more effective learning experiences for our students and the general public.

Reduction of cognitive conflict and learning style impact towards student-teacher's misconception load

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

A'yun, Kurroti; Suyono, Poedjiastoeti, Sri; Bin-Tahir, Saidna Zulfiqar

2017-08-01

The most crucial issue in education is a misconception that is caused by the misconception of the students themselves. Therefore, this study provided the solution to improve the quality of teaching chemistry in the schools through the remediation of misconceptions to the chemistry teacher candidates. This study employed a mixed method approach using concurrent embedded designs where it tended more to the qualitative research, but it still relied on the quantitative research in the assessment of the learning impact. The results of this study were the students with higher levels of cognitive conflict still have high loads of misconceptions (MC), it possibly due to the type of students' learning styles that is the sequential-global balanced. To facilitate the cognitive conflict character and the learning style of sequential-global balanced, the researchers created an integrated worksheet conceptual change with peer learning (WCCPL). The peer learning undertaken in the last stages of conceptual change of WCCPL can increase the resistance of students' concept in a category of knowing the concept significantly, but it should be examined in an in-depth study related to the long-term memory.

The Heat Is On! Using Particle Models to Change Students' Conceptions of Heat and Temperature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hitt, Austin Manning; Townsend, J. Scott

2015-01-01

Elementary, middle-level, and high school science teachers commonly find their students have misconceptions about heat and temperature. Unfortunately, student misconceptions are difficult to modify or change and can prevent students from learning the accurate scientific explanation. In order to improve our students' understanding of heat and…

Student certainty answering misconception question: study of Three-Tier Multiple-Choice Diagnostic Test in Acid-Base and Solubility Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ardiansah; Masykuri, M.; Rahardjo, S. B.

2018-04-01

Students’ concept comprehension in three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test related to student confidence level. The confidence level related to certainty and student’s self-efficacy. The purpose of this research was to find out students’ certainty in misconception test. This research was quantitative-qualitative research method counting students’ confidence level. The research participants were 484 students that were studying acid-base and equilibrium solubility subject. Data was collected using three-tier multiple-choice (3TMC) with thirty questions and students’ questionnaire. The findings showed that #6 item gives the highest misconception percentage and high student confidence about the counting of ultra-dilute solution’s pH. Other findings were that 1) the student tendency chosen the misconception answer is to increase over item number, 2) student certainty decreased in terms of answering the 3TMC, and 3) student self-efficacy and achievement were related each other in the research. The findings suggest some implications and limitations for further research.

Secondary & College Biology Students' Misconceptions About Diffusion & Osmosis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odom, Arthur Louis

1995-01-01

Tests on diffusion and osmosis given to (n=116) secondary biology students, (n=123) nonbiology majors, and (n=117) biology majors found that, even after instruction, students continue to have misconceptions about these ideas. Appendix includes diffusion and osmosis test. (MKR)

Does Conceptual Understanding of Limit Partially Lead Students to Misconceptions?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulyono, B.; Hapizah

2017-09-01

This article talks about the result of preliminary research of my dissertation, which will investigate student’s retention of conceptual understanding. In my preliminary research, I surveyed 73 students of mathematics education program by giving some questions to test their retention of conceptual understanding of limits. Based on the results of analyzing of students’ answers I conclude that most of the students have problems with their retention of conceptual understanding and they also have misconception of limits. The first misconception I identified is that students always used the substitution method to determine a limit of a function at a point, but they did not check whether the function is continue or not at the point. It means that they only use the substitution theorem partially, because they do not consider that the substitution theorem \\mathop{{lim}}\\limits\\text{x\\to \\text{c}}f(x)=f(c) works only if f(x) is defined at χ = c. The other misconception identified is that some students always think there must be available of variables χ in a function to determine the limit of the function. I conjecture that conceptual understanding of limit partially leads students to misconceptions.

Overcoming Students' Misconceptions Concerning Thermal Physics with the Aid of Hints and Peer Interaction during a Lecture Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leinonen, Risto; Asikainen, Mervi A.; Hirvonen, Pekka E.

2013-01-01

As has been shown by previous research, students may possess various misconceptions in the area of thermal physics. In order to help them overcome misconceptions observed prior to instruction, we implemented a one-hour lecture-based intervention in their introductory thermal physics course. The intervention was held after the conventional lectures…

From No to Yes: The Impact of an Intervention on The Persistence of Algebraic Misconceptions among Secondary School Algebra Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zielinski, Susan F.

2017-01-01

Many students enter high school with persistent algebraic misconceptions that limit their success in mathematics and, by extension, limit potential educational attainment and future earnings. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a warm conceptual change based intervention on remediating algebraic misconceptions held by…

Students' Misconceptions about Heat Transfer Mechanisms and Elementary Kinetic Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pathare, S. R.; Pradhan, H. C.

2010-01-01

Heat and thermodynamics is a conceptually rich area of undergraduate physics. In the Indian context in particular there has been little work done in this area from the point of view of misconceptions. This prompted us to undertake a study in this area. We present a study of students' misconceptions about heat transfer mechanisms, i.e. conduction,…

The Nature of Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge: The Case of The Volume of Prisms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tekin-Sitrava, Reyhan; Isiksal-Bostan, Mine

2018-01-01

This study investigated middle school teachers' knowledge of students' misconceptions and the sources of these misconceptions related to the volume of prisms. This case study investigated four middle school teachers who taught 8th grade students in Ankara (Turkey). Based on the analysis of the data, two misconceptions related to the volume of…

Identification student’s misconception of heat and temperature using three-tier diagnostic test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suliyanah; Putri, H. N. P. A.; Rohmawati, L.

2018-03-01

The objective of this research is to develop a Three-Tier Diagnostic Test (TTDT) to identify the student's misconception of heat and temperature. Stages of development include: analysis, planning, design, development, evaluation and revise. The results of this study show that (1) the quality of the three-tier type diagnostic test instrument developed has been expressed well with the following details: (a) Internal validity of 88.19% belonging to the valid category. (b) External validity of empirical construct validity test using Pearson Product Moment obtained 0.43 is classified and result of empirical construct validity test obtained false positives 6.1% and false negatives 5.9% then the instrument was valid. (c) Test reliability by using Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.98 which means acceptable. (d) The 80% difficulty level test is quite difficult. (2) Student misconceptions on the temperature of heat and displacement materials based on the II test the highest (84%), the lowest (21%), and the non-misconceptions (7%). (3) The highest cause of misconception among students is associative thinking (22%) and the lowest is caused by incomplete or incomplete reasoning (11%). Three-Tier Diagnostic Test (TTDT) could identify the student's misconception of heat and temperature.

Exploring Algebraic Misconceptions with Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sakow, Matthew; Karaman, Ruveyda

2015-01-01

Many students struggle with algebra, from simplifying expressions to solving systems of equations. Students also have misconceptions about the meaning of variables. In response to the question "Can x + y + z ever equal x + p + z?" during a student interview, the student claimed, "Never . . . because p has to have a different value…

Understanding Atmospheric Carbon Budgets: Teaching Students Conservation of Mass

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reichert, Collin; Cervato, Cinzia; Niederhauser, Dale; Larsen, Michael D.

2015-01-01

In this paper we describe student use of a series of connected online problem-solving activities to remediate atmospheric carbon budget misconceptions held by undergraduate university students. In particular, activities were designed to address a common misconception about conservation of mass when students assume a simplistic, direct relationship…

Turkish Students' Force Meanings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menekse, Muhsin; Clark, Douglas B.; Ozdemir, Gokhan; D'angelo, Cynthia; Scheligh, Sharon

2009-01-01

What are Turkish pre, elementary, middle, and high school students' force ideas? And, how do Turkish students' non-normative force ideas differ or be similar to the well-known force misconceptions reported in the literature? Students have false and persistent beliefs about the physical world and they struggle with challenging misconceptions based…

Better Categorizing Misconceptions Using a Contemporary Cognitive Science Lens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, S. J.; Slater, T. F.

2013-12-01

Much of the last three decades of discipline-based education research in the geosciences has focused on the important work of identifying the range and domain of misconceptions students bring into undergraduate science survey courses. Pinpointing students' prior knowledge is a cornerstone for developing constructivist approaches and learning environments for effective teaching. At the same time, the development of a robust a priori formula for professors to use in mitigating students' misconceptions remains elusive. An analysis of the literature and our own research has persuaded researchers at the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research to put forth a model that will allow professors to operate on students' various learning difficulties in a more productive manner. Previously, much of the field's work binned erroneous student thinking into a single construct, and from that basis, curriculum developers and instructors addressed student misconceptions with a single instructional strategy. In contrast, we propose a model based on the notion that 'misconceptions' are a mixture of at least four learning barriers: incorrect factual information, inappropriately applied mental algorithms (phenomenological primitives), insufficient cognitive structures (e.g. spatial reasoning), and affective/emotional difficulties (e.g. students' spiritual commitments). In this sense, each of these different types of learning barriers would be more effectively addressed with an instructional strategy purposefully targeting these different attributes. Initial applications of this model to learning problems in geosciences have been fruitful, suggesting that an effort towards categorizing persistent learning difficulties in the geosciences beyond the single generalized category of 'misconceptions' might allow our community to more effectively design learning experiences for our students and the general public

A Reply to ''Reinterpretation of Students' Ideas When Reasoning about Particle Model Illustrations. A Response to ''Using Animations in Identifying General Chemistry Students' Misconceptions and Evaluating Their Knowledge Transfer Relating to Particle Position in Physical Changes'' by Smith and Villarreal (2015)''

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, K. Christopher; Villarreal, Savannah

2015-01-01

In this reply to Elon Langbeheim's response to an article recently published in this journal, authors Smith and Villarreal identify several types of general chemistry students' misconceptions concerning the concept of particle position during physical change. They focus their response on one of the misconceptions identified as such: Given a solid…

Influence of Learning Strategy of Cognitive Conflict on Student Misconception in Computational Physics Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akmam, A.; Anshari, R.; Amir, H.; Jalinus, N.; Amran, A.

2018-04-01

Misconception is one of the factors causing students are not suitable in to choose a method for problem solving. Computational Physics course is a major subject in the Department of Physics FMIPA UNP Padang. The problem in Computational Physics learning lately is that students have difficulties in constructing knowledge. The indication of this problem was the student learning outcomes do not achieve mastery learning. The root of the problem is the ability of students to think critically weak. Student critical thinking can be improved using cognitive by conflict learning strategies. The research aims to determine the effect of cognitive conflict learning strategy to student misconception on the subject of Computational Physics Course at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Universitas Negeri Padang. The experimental research design conducted after-before design cycles with a sample of 60 students by cluster random sampling. Data were analyzed using repeated Anova measurements. The cognitive conflict learning strategy has a significant effect on student misconception in the subject of Computational Physics Course.

Exothermic Bond Breaking: A Persistent Misconception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galley, William C.

2004-01-01

The misconceptions regarding the nature of ATP hydrolysis and bond breaking are discussed. The students' knowledge in this area is quantitatively measured by a survey of over 600 biochemistry and physiology students.

Undergraduate Mathematics Students' Pronumeral Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bardini, Caroline; Vincent, Jill; Pierce, Robyn; King, Deborah

2014-01-01

Despite an emphasis on manipulative algebraic techniques in secondary school algebra, many tertiary mathematics students have mastered these skills without conceptual understanding. A significant number of students with high tertiary entrance ranks enrolled in first semester university mathematics were found to have misconceptions relating to…

Using the Conceptual Change Instruction To Improve Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alparslan, Cem; Tekkaya, Ceren; Geban, Omer

2003-01-01

Investigates the effect of conceptual change instruction on grade 11 students' understanding of respiration. The Respiration Concept Test was developed and used to test students' misconceptions. Results indicate that the conceptual change instruction that explicitly addressed students' misconceptions produced significantly greater achievement in…

The use of astronomy questions as an instrument to detect student's misconceptions regarding physics concepts at high school level by using CRI (Certainty of Response Index) as identification methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Utami, D. N.; Wulandari, H. R. T.

2016-11-01

The aim of this research is to detect misconceptions in the concept of physics at high school level by using astronomy questions as a testing instrument. Misconception is defined as a thought or an idea that is different from what has been agreed by experts who are reliable in the field, and it is believed to interfere with the acquisition of new understanding and integration of new knowledge or skills. While lack of concept or knowledge can be corrected with the next instruction and learning, students who have misconceptions have to “unlearn” their misconception before learning a correct one. Therefore, the ability to differentiate between these two things becomes crucial. CRI is one of the methods that can identify efficiently, between misconceptions and lack of knowledge that occur in the students. This research used quantitative- descriptive method with ex-post-facto research approach. An instrument used for the test is astronomy questions that require an understanding of physics concepts to solve the problem. By using astronomy questions, it is expected to raise a better understanding such that a concept can be viewed from various fields of science. Based on test results, misconceptions are found on several topics of physics. This test also revealed that student's ability to analyse a problem is still quite low.

Concept cartoons for diagnosing student’s misconceptions in the topic of buffers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusumaningrum, I. A.; Ashadi; Indriyanti, N. Y.

2018-05-01

Student’s misconceptions have been concerned over twenty years in the chemistry education research. It influences students to learn new knowledge and gain a correct concept. The buffer solution is found as a difficult topic due to student’s misconception. However, the research related this subject are still rare. Concept cartoon has been used as one of the effective tools to diagnose misconceptions. This study aims to identify the effectiveness of concept cartoon to diagnose them. The concept cartoon consists of three concept questions. 98 students of grade 11 as respondents of this research and followed by interview for selected students. The data obtain of the study are analyzed by using a scoring key. The detected misconceptions are about what buffers do, what buffers are, and how buffers are able to do what they do. Concept cartoon is potential as a basic tool for remedial teaching.

An Astronomical Misconceptions Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LoPresto, Michael C.; Murrell, Steven R.

2011-01-01

Misconceptions that students bring with them to the introductory science classroom plague every area of science and are especially prevalent in astronomy. One way to identify and possibly dispel some of these misconceptions is through the use of a misconceptions survey. The following is a report on the development, implementation, and some early…

The Earthquake Information Test: Validating an Instrument for Determining Student Misconceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Katharyn E. K.; Shuell, Thomas J.

Some pre-instructional misconceptions held by children can persist through scientific instruction and resist changes. Identifying these misconceptions would be beneficial for science instruction. In this preliminary study, scores on a 60-item true-false test of knowledge and misconceptions about earthquakes were compared with previous interview…

The Geoscience Concept Test: A New Assessment Tool Based on Student Misconceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Libarkin, J.; Anderson, S. W.; Boone, W. J.; Beilfuss, M.; Dahl, J.

2002-12-01

We developed and began pilot testing of an earth science assessment tool called the geoscience concept test (GCT). The GCT uses student misconceptions as distractors in a 30 item multiple-choice instrument. Student misconceptions were first assessed through the analysis of nearly 300 questionnaires administered in introductory geology courses at three institutions. Results from the questionnaires guided the development of an interview protocol that was used by four interviewers at four different institutions. Over 100 in-depth student interviews lasting from 0.5 to 1 hour probed topics related to the Earth's interior, geologic time, and the formation of Earth surface features such as mountains and volcanoes to better define misconceptions. Thematic content analysis of the interviews identified a number of widely held misconceptions, which were then incorporated into the GCT as multiple-choice distractors (wrong answers). For content validity, the initial GCT was reviewed by seven experts (3 geoscientists and 4 science educators) and revised before pilot testing. Approximately 100 introductory and non-science major college students from four institutions were assessed with the GCT pilot in the spring of 2002. Rasch model analysis of this data showed that students found the pilot test difficult, and the level of difficulty was consistent between the four institutions. Analysis of individual items showed that students had fewer misconceptions regarding the locations of earthquakes, and many misconceptions regarding the locations of volcanoes on the Earth's surface, suggesting a disconnect in their understanding of the role of plate tectonics in these phenomena. Analysis of the misfit statistic for each item showed that none of the questions misfit, although we dropped one question and modified the wording of another for clarity in the next round of piloting. A second round of piloting scheduled for the fall of 2002 includes nearly 3000 students from 34 institutions in 19 states.

Misconceptions of High School Students Related to the Conceptions of Absolutism and Constitutionalism in History Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bal, Mehmet Suat

2011-01-01

The goal of this study is to analyze the 10th grade high school students' misconceptions related to the sense of ruling in the Ottoman State during the absolutist and constitutional periods and to investigate the causes of these misconceptions. The data were collected through eight open-ended questions related to the concepts of absolutism and…

Student Misconceptions in Writing Balanced Equations for Dissolving Ionic Compounds in Water

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naah, Basil M.; Sanger, Michael J.

2012-01-01

The goal of this study was to identify student misconceptions and difficulties in writing symbolic-level balanced equations for dissolving ionic compounds in water. A sample of 105 college students were asked to provide balanced equations for dissolving four ionic compounds in water. Another 37 college students participated in semi-structured…

The Profile of Misconceptions among Science Subject Student-Teachers in Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Subayani, Nataria Wahyuning

2016-01-01

Students' different background knowledge determines their quality of conceptions towards a specific subject in college. This research sought to uncover the profile of misconceptions experienced by 48 students of Primary School Teaching Major, studying Science in University of Muhammadiyah Gresik. The educational background of the students in high…

Some Student Misconceptions in Chemistry: A Literature Review of Chemical Bonding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozmen, Haluk

2004-01-01

Students' misconceptions before or after formal instruction have become a major concern among researchers in science education because they influence how students learn new scientific knowledge, play an essential role in subsequent learning and become a hindrance in acquiring the correct body of knowledge. In this paper some students'…

Click-On-Diagram Questions: a New Tool to Study Conceptions Using Classroom Response Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LaDue, Nicole D.; Shipley, Thomas F.

2018-06-01

Geoscience instructors depend upon photos, diagrams, and other visualizations to depict geologic structures and processes that occur over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. This proof-of-concept study tests click-on-diagram (COD) questions, administered using a classroom response system (CRS), as a research tool for identifying spatial misconceptions. First, we propose a categorization of spatial conceptions associated with geoscience concepts. Second, we implemented the COD questions in an undergraduate introductory geology course. Each question was implemented three times: pre-instruction, post-instruction, and at the end of the course to evaluate the stability of students' conceptual understanding. We classified each instance as (1) a false belief that was easily remediated, (2) a flawed mental model that was not fully transformed, or (3) a robust misconception that persisted despite targeted instruction. Geographic Information System (GIS) software facilitated spatial analysis of students' answers. The COD data confirmed known misconceptions about Earth's structure, geologic time, and base level and revealed a novel robust misconception about hot spot formation. Questions with complex spatial attributes were less likely to change following instruction and more likely to be classified as a robust misconception. COD questions provided efficient access to students' conceptual understanding. CRS-administered COD questions present an opportunity to gather spatial conceptions with large groups of students, immediately, building the knowledge base about students' misconceptions and providing feedback to guide instruction.

Investigating Students' Understanding of the Dissolving Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naah, Basil M.; Sanger, Michael J.

2013-01-01

In a previous study, the authors identified several student misconceptions regarding the process of dissolving ionic compounds in water. The present study used multiple-choice questions whose distractors were derived from these misconceptions to assess students' understanding of the dissolving process at the symbolic and particulate levels. The…

Impact of Learning Model Based on Cognitive Conflict toward Student’s Conceptual Understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mufit, F.; Festiyed, F.; Fauzan, A.; Lufri, L.

2018-04-01

The problems that often occur in the learning of physics is a matter of misconception and low understanding of the concept. Misconceptions do not only happen to students, but also happen to college students and teachers. The existing learning model has not had much impact on improving conceptual understanding and remedial efforts of student misconception. This study aims to see the impact of cognitive-based learning model in improving conceptual understanding and remediating student misconceptions. The research method used is Design / Develop Research. The product developed is a cognitive conflict-based learning model along with its components. This article reports on product design results, validity tests, and practicality test. The study resulted in the design of cognitive conflict-based learning model with 4 learning syntaxes, namely (1) preconception activation, (2) presentation of cognitive conflict, (3) discovery of concepts & equations, (4) Reflection. The results of validity tests by some experts on aspects of content, didactic, appearance or language, indicate very valid criteria. Product trial results also show a very practical product to use. Based on pretest and posttest results, cognitive conflict-based learning models have a good impact on improving conceptual understanding and remediating misconceptions, especially in high-ability students.

Misconceptions in Astronomy: Before and After a Constructivist Learning Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruzhitskaya, Lanika; Speck, A.

2009-01-01

We present results of a pilot study on college students’ misconceptions in astronomy. The study was conducted on the campus of a Midwestern university among 43 non-science major students enrolled in an introductory astronomy laboratory course. The laboratory course was based on a constructivist learning environment where students learned astronomy by doing astronomy. During the course, students worked with educational simulations created by Project CLEA team and RedShift College Education Astronomy Workbook by Bill Walker as well as were involved in think-pair-share discussions based on Lecture-Tutorials (Prather et al 2008). Several laboratories were prompted by an instructor's brief presentations. On the first and last days of the course students were surveyed on what their beliefs were about causes of the seasons, the moon's apparent size in the sky and its phases, planetary orbits, structure of the solar system, the sun, distant stars, and the nature of light. The majority of the surveys’ questions were based on Neil Comins’ 50 most commonly cited misconceptions. The outcome of the study showed that while students constructed correct understanding of a number of phenomena, they also created a set of new misconceptions. For example, if on the first day of the course, nine out of 43 students knew what caused the seasons on Earth; on the last day of the course, 20 students gained the similar understanding. However, by the end of the course more students believed that smaller planets must rotate faster based on the conservation of angular momentum and Kepler's laws. Our findings suggest that misconceptions pointed out by Neil Comins over a decade ago are still relevant today; and that learning based exclusively on simulations and collaborative group discussions does not necessarily produce the best results, but may set a ground for creating new misconceptions.

Teachers' Misconceptions about the Effects of Addition of More Reactants or Products on Chemical Equilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, Derek; Ma, Hong-jia; Yang, Jie

2009-01-01

The importance of research on misconceptions about chemical equilibrium is well recognized by educators, but in the past, researchers' interest has centered on student misconceptions and has neglected teacher misconceptions. Focusing on the effects of adding more reactants or products on chemical equilibrium, this article discusses the various…

Eliminate with Created Argument Environment after Evaluated and Categorized Misconceptions in an Ontological Sense

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinik Topalsan, Aysegul; Bayram, Hale

2017-01-01

This study aimed to ascertain misconceptions of students about basic physical concepts in the "Force and Motion" unit of secondary school seventh class curriculum, to eliminate the misconceptions with created argument environment and traditional approaches after evaluated, and categorize these misconceptions in an ontological sense.…

Misconceptions in the Earth Sciences: A Cross-Age Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schoon, Kenneth J.

Misconceptions interfere with the formation of new insights and provide a faulty foundation. This causes difficulty in the learning of new materials. Therefore, effective teachers strive to know which misconceptions students have, and then develop a plan by which these suspected misconceptions can be corrected or averted. This paper reports on an…

Diagnostic Opportunities Using Rasch Measurement in the Context of a Misconceptions-Based Physical Science Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wind, Stefanie A.; Gale, Jessica D.

2015-01-01

Multiple-choice (MC) items that are constructed such that distractors target known misconceptions for a particular domain provide useful diagnostic information about student misconceptions (Herrmann-Abell & DeBoer, 2011, 2014; Sadler, 1998). Item response theory models can be used to examine misconceptions distractor-driven multiple-choice…

Does Prior Knowledge Matter? Do Lamarckian Misconceptions Exist? A Critique of Geraedts and Boersma (2006)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enderle, Patrick J.; Smith, Mike U.; Southerland, Sherry

2009-01-01

The existence, preponderance, and stability of misconceptions related to evolution continue as foci of research in science education. In their 2006 study, Geraedts and Boersma question the existence of stable Lamarckian misconceptions in students, challenging the utility of Conceptual Change theory in addressing any such misconceptions. To support…

Is It the Earth That Turns or the Sun That Goes behind the Mountains? Students' Misconceptions about the Day/Night Cycle after Reading a Science Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vosniadou, Stella; Skopeliti, Irini

2017-01-01

The present research tested the hypothesis that the reading of science text can create new misconceptions in students with incongruent prior knowledge, and that these new misconceptions will be similar to the fragmented and synthetic conceptions obtained in prior developmental research. Ninety-nine third- and fifth-grade children read and recalled…

Implementation of ECIRR model based on virtual simulation media to reduce students’ misconception on kinetic theory of gases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prastiwi, A. C.; Kholiq, A.; Setyarsih, W.

2018-03-01

The purposed of this study are to analyse reduction of students’ misconceptions after getting ECIRR with virtual simulation. The design of research is the pre-experimental design with One Group Pretest-Posttest Design. Subjects of this research were 36 students of class XI MIA-5 SMAN 1 Driyorejo Gresik 2015/2016 school year. Students misconceptions was determined by Three-tier Diagnostic Test. The result shows that the average percentage of misconceptions reduced on topics of ideal gas law, equation of ideal gases and kinetic theory of gases respectively are 38%, 34% and 38%.

Development and Application of an Instrument to Identify Students Misconceptions: Diffusion and Osmosis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misischia, Cynthia M.

2010-01-01

A large number of undergraduate students have naive understandings about the processes of Diffusion and Osmosis. Some students overcome these misconceptions, but others do not. The study involved nineteen undergraduate movement science students at a Midwest University. Participants' were asked to complete a short answer (fill-in the blank) test,…

Identifying and Remediating Student Misconceptions in Introductory Biology via Writing-to-Learn Assignments and Peer Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halim, Audrey S.; Finkenstaedt-Quinn, Solaire A.; Olsen, Laura J.; Gere, Anne Ruggles; Shultz, Ginger V.

2018-01-01

Student misconceptions are an obstacle in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses and unless remediated may continue causing difficulties in learning as students advance in their studies. Writing-to-learn assignments (WTL) are characterized by their ability to promote in-depth conceptual learning by allowing students to explore…

Addressing climate and energy misconceptions - teaching tools offered by the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gold, A. U.; Ledley, T. S.; Kirk, K. B.; Grogan, M.; McCaffrey, M. S.; Buhr, S. M.; Manduca, C. A.; Fox, S.; Niepold, F.; Howell, C.; Lynds, S. E.

2011-12-01

Despite a prevalence of peer-reviewed scientific research and high-level reports by intergovernmental agencies (e.g., IPCC) that document changes in our climate and consequences for human societies, the public discourse regards these topics as controversial and sensitive. The chasm between scientific-based understanding of climate systems and public understanding can most easily be addressed via high quality, science-based education on these topics. Well-trained and confident educators are required to provide this education. However, climate science and energy awareness are complex topics that are rapidly evolving and have a great potential for controversy. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary nature of climate science further increases the difficulty for teachers to stay abreast of the science and the policy. Research has shown that students and educators alike hold misconceptions about the climate system in general and the causes and effects of climate change in particular. The NSF-funded CLEAN Pathway (http://cleanet.org) as part of the National Science Digital Library (http://www.nsdl.org) strives to address these needs and help educators address misconceptions by providing high quality learning resources and professional development opportunities to support educators of grade levels 6 through 16. The materials focus on teaching climate science and energy use. The scope and framework of the CLEAN Pathway is defined by the Essential Principles of Climate Science (CCSP, 2009) and the Energy Literacy Principles recently developed by the Department of Energy. Following this literacy-based approach, CLEAN helps with developing mental models to address misconceptions around climate science and energy awareness through a number of different avenues. These are: 1) Professional development opportunities for educators - interactive webinars for secondary teachers and virtual workshops for college faculty, 2) A collection of scientifically and pedagogically reviewed, high-quality learning resources on climate and energy topics, 3) Detailed information on effective approaches for teaching climate and energy science for a range of grade levels, and 4) A community support forum (http://iceeonline.org, coordinated by a partner project - Inspiring Climate Education Excellence, ICEE), where educators can exchange information and share advice regarding climate and energy education. In this presentation we focus on our experience coordinating professional development opportunities as well as the "Teaching about Climate and Energy" web pages that are offered through the CLEAN Pathway to show-case how misconceptions can be addressed by educators when teaching or learning about climate and energy topics. Providing educators with a robust foundation of topical knowledge, guiding them through common misconceptions and providing them with a collection of well-vetted learning resources is the approach offered by CLEAN to address student misconceptions of climate and energy topics.

Improving Algebra Preparation: Implications from Research on Student Misconceptions and Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welder, Rachael M.

2012-01-01

Through historical and contemporary research, educators have identified widespread misconceptions and difficulties faced by students in learning algebra. Many of these universal issues stem from content addressed long before students take their first algebra course. Yet elementary and middle school teachers may not understand how the subtleties of…

An Intelligent and Interactive Simulation and Tutoring Environment for Exploring and Learning Simple Machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myneni, Lakshman Sundeep

Students in middle school science classes have difficulty mastering physics concepts such as energy and work, taught in the context of simple machines. Moreover, students' naive conceptions of physics often remain unchanged after completing a science class. To address this problem, I developed an intelligent tutoring system, called the Virtual Physics System (ViPS), which coaches students through problem solving with one class of simple machines, pulley systems. The tutor uses a unique cognitive based approach to teaching simple machines, and includes innovations in three areas. (1) It employs a teaching strategy that focuses on highlighting links among concepts of the domain that are essential for conceptual understanding yet are seldom learned by students. (2) Concepts are taught through a combination of effective human tutoring techniques (e.g., hinting) and simulations. (3) For each student, the system identifies which misconceptions he or she has, from a common set of student misconceptions gathered from domain experts, and tailors tutoring to match the correct line of scientific reasoning regarding the misconceptions. ViPS was implemented as a platform on which students can design and simulate pulley system experiments, integrated with a constraint-based tutor that intervenes when students make errors during problem solving to teach them and to help them. ViPS has a web-based client-server architecture, and has been implemented using Java technologies. ViPS is different from existing physics simulations and tutoring systems due to several original features. (1). It is the first system to integrate a simulation based virtual experimentation platform with an intelligent tutoring component. (2) It uses a novel approach, based on Bayesian networks, to help students construct correct pulley systems for experimental simulation. (3) It identifies student misconceptions based on a novel decision tree applied to student pretest scores, and tailors tutoring to individual students based on detected misconceptions. ViPS has been evaluated through usability and usefulness experiments with undergraduate engineering students taking their first college-level engineering physics course and undergraduate pre-service teachers taking their first college-level physics course. These experiments demonstrated that ViPS is highly usable and effective. Students using ViPS reduced their misconceptions, and students conducting virtual experiments in ViPS learned more than students who conducted experiments with physical pulley systems. Interestingly, it was also found that college students exhibited many of the same misconceptions that have been identified in middle school students.

A phenomenographical investigation of gender differences in the conceptual understanding of mechanics: Implications for classroom instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabin, Suzanne Sells

Using a phenomenographical approach, this study investigates the qualitatively different ways that middle school boys and girls conceptualize aspects of the relationship between force and motion. It is well documented that students enter the classroom with intuitive beliefs that are frequently inconsistent with the Newtonian concept of force. Better known as misconceptions, three such understandings were examined in this study: motion implies force; impetus dissipation; and velocity, or a change in velocity, is proportional to force. With respect to each misconception, potential gender differences in comprehension were examined by monitoring student thinking during the learning process. To gain insight into the prior knowledge of the learner, selected items from the FCI were administered. These conceptions were then compared with the student's qualitative understanding of each physics principle following classroom instruction thereby characterizing the degree of conceptual change exhibited by the learner. After documenting the student's understanding of a given topic, his or her ability to apply these concepts was explored. Not only were students found to harbor misconceptions that served as obstacles to the learning process, these beliefs proved highly contextual and inconsistently applied. Some misconceptions were more prevalent than others. In addition, students who responded with a given misconception in one context often failed to apply the same belief in a different setting. While this pattern of variability was characteristic of all comparison groups, females were generally more likely to continue employing the motion implies force and impetus dissipation misconceptions following instruction. Perhaps more important than any gender specific trend in student thinking, is the number of individuals who continued to apply misconceptions following instruction. The persistence of the learner's intuitive beliefs has serious implications. More work is needed to establish instructional strategies that promote conceptual change. In addition, the gender differences identified in this study warrant further investigation.

Turning Misinformation into Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borah, N.; Cook, J.

2017-12-01

Misinformation reduces science literacy and interferes with new learning. This undermines the application of science to understanding and addressing important societal issues. Intentional misinformation and fake news is of growing concern to the scientists, educators and policymakers. Specifically, misinformation about human-caused climate change has become prominent in recent times creating confusion among the public. Hence, interventions that inoculate people against climate change misinformation are very much necessary. One of the most promising applications of inoculation is in the classroom, using a teaching approach known as misconception-based learning. This involves explaining scientific concepts while directly refuting related misconceptions. Misconception-based learning is a powerful way to neutralize the influence of climate change misinformation by increasing both science literacy and critical thinking skills. Students do not possess as many erroneous preconceptions about climate change relative to adults and hence correcting such misconceptions among students is more effective using this teaching approach. The misconception-based teaching approach has a number of benefits. It results in greater and longer-lasting learning gains relative to standard lessons. It equips students with the tools and knowledge to distinguish between facts and myths and increases confidence to engage in constructive discussion with family and friends about climate change. Further, research has shown that students have an effect on parents' environmental attitudes and behavior. Consequently, misconception-based learning presents the opportunity to reach the adult community through the students. We have developed a high school climate change curriculum based on the misconception-based learning framework. Our intent is to run a pilot project that tests the impact of this curriculum on students' climate perceptions, and any second-order influence on their parents. This research project will establish the effectiveness of this teaching approach in raising climate literacy, neutralizing the influence of misinformation, and equipping students with the tools and confidence to converse with their friends and family about climate change.

Refocusing International Astronomy Education Research Using a Cognitive Focus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, Stephanie J.

2015-08-01

For over 40 years, the international astronomy education community has given its attention to cataloging the substantial body of "misconceptions" in individual's thinking about astronomy, and to addressing the consequences of those misconceptions in the science classroom. Despite the tremendous amount of effort given to researching and disseminating information related to misconceptions, and the development of a theory of conceptual change to mitigate misconceptions, progress continues to be less than satisfying. An analysis of the literature and our own research has motivated the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research to advance a new model that allowing us to operate on students' astronomical learning difficulties in a more fruitful manner. Previously, much of the field's work binned erroneous student thinking into a single construct, and from that basis, curriculum developers and instructors addressed student misconceptions with a single instructional strategy. In contrast this model suggests that "misconceptions" are a mixture of at least four learning barriers: incorrect factual information, inappropriately applied mental algorithms (e.g., phenomenological primitives), insufficient cognitive structures (e.g., spatial reasoning), and affective/emotional difficulties. Each of these types of barriers should be addressed with an appropriately designed instructional strategy. Initial applications of this model to learning problems in astronomy and the space sciences have been fruitful, suggesting that an effort towards categorizing persistent learning difficulties in astronomy beyond the level of "misconceptions" may allow our community to craft tailored and more effective learning experiences for our students and the general public.

Investigating Undergraduate Students’ Use of Intuitive Reasoning and Evolutionary Knowledge in Explanations of Antibiotic Resistance

PubMed Central

Richard, Melissa; Coley, John D.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2017-01-01

Natural selection is a central concept throughout biology; however, it is a process frequently misunderstood. Bacterial resistance to antibiotic medications provides a contextual example of the relevance of evolutionary theory and is also commonly misunderstood. While research has shed light on student misconceptions of natural selection, minimal study has focused on misconceptions of antibiotic resistance. Additionally, research has focused on the degree to which misconceptions may be based in the complexity of biological information or in pedagogical choices, rather than in deep-seated cognitive patterns. Cognitive psychology research has established that humans develop early intuitive assumptions to make sense of the world. In this study, we used a written assessment tool to investigate undergraduate students’ misconceptions of antibiotic resistance, use of intuitive reasoning, and application of evolutionary knowledge to antibiotic resistance. We found a majority of students produced and agreed with misconceptions, and intuitive reasoning was present in nearly all students’ written explanations. Acceptance of a misconception was significantly associated with production of a hypothesized form of intuitive thinking (all p ≤ 0.05). Intuitive reasoning may represent a subtle but innately appealing linguistic shorthand, and instructor awareness of intuitive reasoning’s relation to student misunderstandings has potential for addressing persistent misconceptions. PMID:28821540

Unraveling Students' Misconceptions about the Earth's Shape and Gravity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sneider, Cary I.; Ohadi, Mark M.

1998-01-01

Presents a study designed to test the effectiveness of a constructivist-historical teaching strategy in changing students' misconceptions about the earth's shape and gravity at the upper elementary and middle school levels. Contains 27 references. (DDR)

An Analysis of Misconceptions in Science Textbooks: Earth science in England and Wales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Chris John Henry

2010-03-01

Surveys of the earth science content of all secondary (high school) science textbooks and related publications used in England and Wales have revealed high levels of error/misconception. The 29 science textbooks or textbook series surveyed (51 texts in all) showed poor coverage of National Curriculum earth science and contained a mean level of one earth science error/misconception per page. Science syllabuses and examinations surveyed also showed errors/misconceptions. More than 500 instances of misconception were identified through the surveys. These were analysed for frequency, indicating that those areas of the earth science curriculum most prone to misconception are sedimentary processes/rocks, earthquakes/Earth's structure, and plate tectonics. For the 15 most frequent misconceptions, examples of quotes from the textbooks are given, together with the scientific consensus view, a discussion, and an example of a misconception of similar significance in another area of science. The misconceptions identified in the surveys are compared with those described in the literature. This indicates that the misconceptions found in college students and pre-service/practising science teachers are often also found in published materials, and therefore are likely to reinforce the misconceptions in teachers and their students. The analysis may also reflect the prevalence earth science misconceptions in the UK secondary (high school) science-teaching population. The analysis and discussion provide the opportunity for writers of secondary science materials to improve their work on earth science and to provide a platform for improved teaching and learning of earth science in the future.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Teacher’s Knowledge of Students in Learning Mathematics on Limit of Function Subject

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma'rufi; Ketut Budayasa, I.; Juniati, Dwi

2018-01-01

This research aims at describing the profile of high school teacher’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge in learning mathematics from the perspective of teaching experience. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) covers teacher’s knowledge of subject matter, knowledge of pedagogy, and knowledge of students. The subject of this research was two high school mathematics teachers who have different teaching experience. The data were obtained through interview and observation then analyzed qualitatively. The focus of this research is the novice teacher’s PCK deals with knowledge of students. Knowledge of Student is defined as teacher’s knowledge about the students’ conception and misconception on limit of function material and teacher’s ability to cope with students’ difficulty, mistake, and misconception. The result of this research shows that novice teacher’s ability in analyzing the cause of students’ difficulty, mistake, and misconception was limited. Novice teacher tended to overcome the students’ difficulty, mistake, and misconception by re-explaining the procedure of question completion which is not understood by the students.

Calcium contained tap water phenomena: students misconception patterns of acids-bases concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liliasari, S.; Albaiti, A.; Wahyudi, A.

2018-05-01

Acids and bases concept is very important and fundamental concept in learning chemistry. It is one of the chemistry subjects considered as an abstract and difficult concept to understand. The aim of this research was to explore student’s misconception pattern about acids and bases phenomena in daily life, such as calcium contained tap water. This was a qualitative research with descriptive methods. Participants were 546 undergraduate students of chemistry education and chemistry program, and graduate students of chemistry education in West Java, Indonesia. The test to explore students’ misconception about this phenomena was essay test. The results showed that there were five patterns of students’ misconception in explaining the phenomena of calcium carbonate precipitation on heating tap water. Students used irrelevant concepts in explaining this phenomena, i.e. temporary hardness, coagulation, density, and phase concepts. No students had right answer in explaining this phenomena. This research contributes to design meaningful learning and to achieve better understanding.

Unweaving Misconceptions: Guided Learning, Simulations, and Misconceptions in Learning Principles of Natural Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weeks, Brian E.

2013-01-01

College students often come to the study of evolutionary biology with many misconceptions of how the processes of natural selection and speciation occur. How to relinquish these misconceptions with learners is a question that many educators face in introductory biology courses. Constructivism as a theoretical framework has become an accepted and…

Assessing 10- to 11-Year-Old Children's Performance and Misconceptions in Number Sense Using a Four-Tier Diagnostic Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Der-Ching; Lin, Yung-Chi

2015-01-01

Background: Number sense is a key topic in mathematics education, and the identification of children's misconceptions about number is, therefore, important. Information about students' serious misconceptions can be quite significant for teachers, allowing them to change their teaching plans to help children overcome these misconceptions. In…

A cross-age study of student understanding of the concept of diffusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westbrook, Susan L.; Marek, Edmund A.

This study examined 7th-grade life science students, 10th-grade biology students, and college zoology students for understanding of the concept of diffusion. Responses from 100 students from each grade level were randomly selected for data analysis. Each student responded to a test packet consisting of a biographical questionnaire, two Piagetian-like developmental tasks, and a Concept Evaluation Statement (CES). The CESs were used to measure the students' understandings of the concept of diffusion. None of the 300 students across the three grade levels exhibited complete understanding of the diffusion concept. There was no appreciable difference among the grade levels in sound or partial understanding, misconceptions, or no understanding. An analysis of the misconceptions exhibited by the college sample showed that many of the misconceptions could be traced to a misapplication of scientific terminology.

Validation of an Instrument for Assessing Conceptual Change with Respect to the Theory of Evolution by Secondary Biology Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goff, Kevin David

This pilot study evaluated the validity of a new quantitative, closed-response instrument for assessing student conceptual change regarding the theory of evolution. The instrument has two distinguishing design features. First, it is designed not only to gauge student mastery of the scientific model of evolution, but also to elicit a trio of deeply intuitive tendencies that are known to compromise many students' understanding: the projection of intentional agency, teleological directionality, and immutable essences onto biological phenomena. Second, in addition to a section of conventional multiple choice questions, the instrument contains a series of items where students may simultaneously endorse both scientifically normative propositions and intuitively appealing yet unscientific propositions, without having to choose between them. These features allow for the hypothesized possibility that the three intuitions are partly innate, themselves products of cognitive evolution in our hominin ancestors, and thus may continue to inform students' thinking even after instruction and conceptual change. The test was piloted with 340 high school students from diverse schools and communities. Confirmatory factor analysis and other statistical methods provided evidence that the instrument already has strong potential for validly distinguishing students who hold a correct scientific understanding from those who do not, but that revision and retesting are needed to render it valid for gauging students' adherence to intuitive misconceptions. Ultimately the instrument holds promise as a tool for classroom intervention studies by conceptual change researchers, for diagnostic testing and data gathering by instructional leaders, and for provoking classroom dialogue and debate by science teachers.

Addressing Student Misconceptions Concerning Electron Flow in Aqueous Solutions with Instruction Including Computer Animations and Conceptual Change Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanger, Michael J.; Greenbowe, Thomas J.

2000-01-01

Investigates the effects of both computer animations of microscopic chemical processes occurring in a galvanic cell and conceptual-change instruction based on chemical demonstrations on students' conceptions of current flow in electrolyte solutions. Finds that conceptual change instruction was effective at dispelling student misconceptions but…

A Review and Comparison of Diagnostic Instruments to Identify Students' Misconceptions in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurel, Derya Kaltakci; Eryilmaz, Ali; McDermott, Lillian Christie

2015-01-01

Different diagnostic tools have been developed and used by researchers to identify students' conceptions. The present study aimed to provide an overview of the common diagnostic instruments in science to assess students' misconceptions. Also the study provides a brief comparison of these common diagnostic instruments with their strengths and…

BIOMIND Portal for Developing 21st Century Skills and Overcoming Students' Misconception in Biology Subject

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vebrianto, Rian; Rery, Radjawaly Usman; Osman, Kamisah

2016-01-01

This research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of BIOMIND portal in enhancing students' 21st century skills and overcoming their misconceptions in Biology subject. 118 Indonesian high school students were involved in this quasi-experimental study. The experimental group underwent learning experiences using BIOMIND portal whereas the…

A Cross-Age Study on the Understanding of Chemical Solutions and Their Components

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calik, Muammer; Ayas, Alipasa

2005-01-01

The aims of this study were considered under three headings. The first was to elicit misconceptions that students had about the terms "solute", "solvent" and "solution." The second was to understand how students' prior learning affected their misconceptions. The third was to determine if students were able to make a…

University Students and AIDS: Some Findings from Three Surveys--1989, 1990 and 1992.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunningham, Ineke; And Others

1994-01-01

Presents three surveys conducted at the University of Puerto Rico concerning college students' AIDS knowledge and their sexual and preventive behaviors. Findings show students had knowledge of how HIV is transmitted, but they also harbored misconceptions about ways the disease can spread. These misconceptions coupled with the machismo attitude…

Misconceptions about Traumatic Brain Injury among Students Preparing to Be Special Education Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hux, Karen; Bush, Erin; Evans, Kelli; Simanek, Gina

2013-01-01

The researchers performed a survey study to determine the effectiveness of collegiate programmes in dispelling common misconceptions about traumatic brain injury (TBI) while preparing undergraduate and graduate students for special education (SpEd) careers. Respondents included 136 undergraduate and 147 graduate SpEd students in their final…

Biology Undergraduates' Misconceptions about Genetic Drift

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andrews, T. M.; Price, R. M.; Mead, L. S.; McElhinny, T. L.; Thanukos, A.; Perez, K. E.; Herreid, C. F.; Terry, D. R.; Lemons, P. P.

2012-01-01

This study explores biology undergraduates' misconceptions about genetic drift. We use qualitative and quantitative methods to describe students' definitions, identify common misconceptions, and examine differences before and after instruction on genetic drift. We identify and describe five overarching categories that include 16 distinct…

Identifying Cell-Related Misconceptions among Fifth Graders and Removing Misconceptions Using a Microscope

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hasiloglu, Mehmet Akif; Eminoglu, Selma

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to identify cell-related misconceptions among fifth graders attending middle schools in Turkey and examine the impact of microscopy on the elimination of these misconceptions. The study was conducted with the participation of 87 fifth grade students (schoolchildren are nearly 11 years old) attending a middle school in Agri…

Development and Application of a Four-Tier Test to Assess Pre-Service Physics Teachers' Misconceptions about Geometrical Optics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaltakci-Gurel, Derya; Eryilmaz, Ali; McDermott, Lillian Christie

2017-01-01

Background: Correct identification of misconceptions is an important first step in order to gain an understanding of student learning. More recently, four-tier multiple choice tests have been found to be effective in assessing misconceptions. Purpose: The purposes of this study are (1) to develop and validate a four-tier misconception test to…

Using Just in Time Teaching in a Global Climate Change Course to Address Misconceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuenemann, K. C.

2013-12-01

Just in Time Teaching (JiTT) is employed in an introductory Global Climate Change college course with the intention of addressing common misconceptions and climate myths. Students enter the course with a variety of prior knowledge and opinions on global warming, and JiTT can be used as a constructivist pedagogical approach to make use of this prior knowledge. Students are asked to watch a short video or do a reading, sometimes screen capture videos created by the professor as review of material from the previous class, a video available on the web from NASA or NOAA, for example, or a reading from an online article or their textbook. After the video or reading, students answer a question carefully designed to pry at a common misconception, or simply are asked for the 'muddiest point' that remains on the concept. This assignment is done the night before class using a web program. The program aggregates the answers in an organized way so the professor can use the answers to design the day's lesson to address common misconceptions or concerns students displayed in their answers, as well as quickly assign participation credit to students who completed the assignment. On the other hand, if students display that they have already mastered the material, the professor can confidently move on to the next concept. The JiTT pedagogical method personalizes each lecture period to the students in that particular class for maximum efficiency while catching and fixing misconceptions in a timely manner. This technique requires students to spend time with the material outside of class, acts as review of important concepts, and increases engagement in class due to the personalization of the course. Evaluation results from use of this technique will be presented. Examples of successful JiTT videos, questions, student answers, and techniques for addressing misconceptions during lecture will also be presented with the intention that instructors can easily apply this technique to their next course.

Revealing physical education students’ misconception in sport biomechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kartiko, D. C.

2018-04-01

The aim of this research is reveal Physical Education students’ misconception in several concepts of Sport Biomechanics. The Data of misconception collected by standard question of Diagnostic Test that given to 30 students of Physical Education, Faculty of Sport, State University of Surabaya in academic year 2017/2018. Diagnostic Test completed with CRI (Certainty of Response Index) in order to collect data of students’ certain in answered test. The data result of diagnostic test analysed through compilation graph of CRI right, CRI wrong and right fraction in every single question. Furthermore, students’ answer result of diagnostic test categorized in to 4 quadrants, these: correct concepts, lucky guess, misconceptions, and lack of knowledge. Its categorizing data to know percentage of misconceptions that arise in every concept tested. These sport biomechanics concepts tested are limited on frictional force, deference of distance and displacement, deference of velocity and acceleration, and free fall motion. The result obtained arise misconception in frictional force 52,78%; deference of distance and displacement 36,67%; deference of velocity and acceleration 56,67%; and free fall motion 53,33%. Result of t-test in diagnostic test misconception percentage showed that percentage of misconception arises in every student above 50%.

The effectiveness of a structured educational intervention on disease-related misconception and quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

PubMed

Yu, Wen-Zhen; Ouyang, Yan-Qiong; Zhang, Qian; Li, Kong-Ling; Chen, Ji-Hong

2014-01-01

A significant number of patients with irritable bowel syndrome hold misconceptions about their disease and experience more impaired quality of life compared with the general population and people suffering from other chronic diseases. This study was designed to explore the effectiveness of a structured educational intervention on disease-related misconceptions and quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome in Wuhan, China. A convenience sample of 23 patients with irritable bowel syndrome participated in an educational program that consisted of 4 weekly sessions in a group setting. Instruments, including an irritable bowel syndrome-related misconception scale and irritable bowel syndrome quality-of-life scale, were used for evaluation at baseline and 3 months after the sessions. Three months after the structured educational intervention, the score for irritable bowel syndrome-related misconception was significantly decreased (p < .001), and the score for irritable bowel syndrome quality of life was significantly improved (p < .001). We conclude that the structured educational intervention seems to be a proper method to reduce the disease-related misconceptions and improve the quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Planning and implementing such clinical education programs will be helpful in decreasing disease-related misconceptions and promoting quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Analizing Student Biology Education Misconception And Scientific Argumentation Ability Using Diagnostic Question Clusters (Dqcs) Of Molecular Genetic Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurlaila, L.; Sriyati, S.; Riandi

2017-02-01

The purpose of this research is to describe the profile of misconceptions and scientific argumentation ability using Diagnostic Question Cluster (DQCs) of molecular genetics concept. This research use descriptive research method and biology education students as a research subject. The Instrument that used in this research are DQCs, sheets interviews, observations, and field notes. The DQCs tested by writing and oral that used to analyze misconceptions and scientific argumentation ability. Sheets interviews, observations and field notes, are used to analyze the possible factors causing misconceptions and scientific argumentation ability. The results showed that misconception of molecular genetics are: DNA (23.75%), genes (18.75%) of chromosomes (15%) and protein synthesis (5.5%). The pattern of the highest misconceptions owned Misconception-Understand Partial. The average scientific argumentation ability is 55% and still categorized warrant (W). The pattern of the scientific argumentation abilities formed is level 2 to level 2 that consists of the arguments in the form of a claim with a counter claim that accompanied by data, collateral (warrant) or support (backing) but does not contain a disclaimer (rebutal).

Misconceptions about Psychological Science: A Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, Sean; Lyddy, Fiona; Lambe, Sinead

2013-01-01

This article provides an overview of the available evidence on psychological misconceptions, including key findings, current directions and emerging issues for investigation. We begin by defining misconceptions and then examine their prevalence and persistence, discuss their implications for student learning and highlight potential strategies to…

Changes Matter!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lott, Kimberly; Jensen, Anitra

2012-01-01

Being able to distinguish between physical and chemical changes of matter is a foundational chemistry concept that at first seems like a simple elementary concept to teach, but students often have misconceptions that hinder their understanding. These misconceptions are seen among elementary students, but these ideas are perpetuated throughout…

Potato Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrier, Sarah J.; Thomas, Annie

2010-01-01

"Watch out, the stove will burn you," "Ooh, ice cream headache!" Students construct their conceptions about heat and temperature through their own intuitions about daily life experiences. As a result, misconceptions can be born from these constructed concepts. The activity described here addresses student misconceptions about thermal insulation…

Using Pre-Assessment and In-Class Questions to Change Student Understanding of Molecular Movements †

PubMed Central

Shi, J.; Knight, Jennifer K.; Chun, Hyonho; Guild, Nancy A.; Martin, Jennifer M.

2017-01-01

Understanding how different types of molecules move through cell membranes is a fundamental part of cell biology. To identify and address student misconceptions surrounding molecular movement through cell membranes, we surveyed student understanding on this topic using pre-class questions, in-class clicker questions, and subsequent exam questions in a large introductory biology course. Common misconceptions identified in student responses to the pre-class assessment questions were used to generate distractors for clicker questions. Two-tier diagnostic clicker questions were used to probe incoming common student misconceptions (first tier) and their reasoning (second tier). Two subsequent lectures with assessment clicker questions were used to help students construct a new framework to understand molecular movement through cell membranes. Comparison of pre-assessment and post-assessment (exam) performance showed dramatic improvement in students’ understanding of molecular movement: student answers to exam questions were 74.6% correct with correct reasoning while only 1.3% of the student answers were correct with correct reasoning on the pre-class assessment. Our results show that students’ conceptual understanding of molecular movement through cell membranes progressively increases through discussions of a series of clicker questions and suggest that this clicker-based teaching strategy was highly effective in correcting common student misconceptions on this topic. PMID:28512521

University and Secondary School Students' Misconceptions about the Concept of "Aromaticity" in Organic Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topal, Giray; Oral, Behcet; Ozden. Mustafa

2007-01-01

Aromaticity concept is given incorrect or incomplete to the student in secondary education and knowledge based on this basic concept has been caused to another misconception in future. How are the achievement levels relating to the comprehension of various characteristics of aromatic compounds for the first and third grade students attending…

Science Teachers' Perceptions of and Approaches towards Students' Misconceptions on Photosynthesis: A Comparison Study between US and Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seo, Kyungwoon; Park, Soonhye; Choi, Aeran

2017-01-01

A critical component of teacher effectiveness is how teachers notice students' misconceptions and adjust the instructional approach accordingly. Taking a stance that the teachers' instructional quality is crucial to students' learning, a qualitative international comparison study was performed to examine science teachers' perceptions of and their…

A Study on Sixth Grade Students' Misconceptions and Errors in Spatial Measurement: Length, Area, and Volume

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan Sisman, Gulcin; Aksu, Meral

2016-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to portray students' misconceptions and errors while solving conceptually and procedurally oriented tasks involving length, area, and volume measurement. The data were collected from 445 sixth grade students attending public primary schools in Ankara, Türkiye via a test composed of 16 constructed-response…

Students' Concept of Force: The Importance of Understanding Newton's Third Law.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David E.

This paper analyzes the misconceptions high school students have about force and suggests that the misunderstanding of Newton's third law is the key to these misconceptions. Clinical interview and diagnostic test data (N=104) indicates that many students have a naive view of force as an acquired or innate property of single objects rather than…

A Study on Primary and Secondary School Students' Misconceptions about Greenhouse Effect (Erzurum Sampling)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gul, Seyda; Yesilyurt, Selami

2011-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine what level of primary and secondary school students' misconceptions related to greenhouse effect is. Study group consists of totally 280 students attended to totally 8 primary and secondary schools (4 primary school, 4 secondary school) which were determined with convenient sampling method from center of…

Identifying and Addressing Student Difficulties and Misconceptions: Examples from Physics and from Materials Science and Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenblatt, Rebecca

2012-01-01

Here I present my work identifying and addressing student difficulties with several materials science and physics topics. In the first part of this thesis, I present my work identifying student difficulties and misconceptions about the directional relationships between net force, velocity, and acceleration in one dimension. This is accomplished…

Secondary School Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Some Common Student Errors and Misconceptions in Sets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolitsoe Moru, Eunice; Qhobela, Makomosela

2013-01-01

The study investigated teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of common students' errors and misconceptions in sets. Five mathematics teachers from one Lesotho secondary school were the sample of the study. Questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. The results show that teachers were able to identify the following students'…

Misconceptions on Classical Mechanics by Freshman University Students: A Case Study in a Physics Department in Greece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stylos, George; Evangelakis, George A.; Kotsis, Konstantinos T.

2008-01-01

This paper presents results of an empirical research study on Newton's laws classical mechanics and its perceptions on freshman students at the Physics Department, University of Ioannina, Greece. Results and outcome measures reveal misconceptions on students' perceptions in consideration of the fundamental concepts in freshman Physics education.…

Determination of Secondary School Students' Cognitive Structure, and Misconception in Ecological Concepts through Word Association Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yücel, Elif Özata; Özkan, Mulis

2015-01-01

In this study, we determined cognitive structures and misconceptions about basic ecological concepts by using "word association" tests on secondary school students, age between 12-14 years. Eighty-nine students participated in this study. Before WAT was generated, basic ecological concepts that take place in the secondary science…

Form Four Students' Misconceptions in Electrolysis of Molten Compounds and Aqueous Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bong, Anita Yung Li; Lee, Tien Tien

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to identify the Form Four students' misconceptions in the electrolysis of molten compounds and aqueous solutions. The respondents were 60 Form Four students from two secondary schools in Sibu, Sarawak. The two instruments used in this study were an open-ended electrochemistry assessment and interview protocol. This…

Applying lessons from behavioral economics to increase flu vaccination rates.

PubMed

Chen, Frederick; Stevens, Ryan

2017-12-01

Seasonal influenza imposes an enormous burden on society every year, yet many people refuse to obtain flu shots due to misconceptions of the flu vaccine. We argue that recent research in psychology and behavioral economics may provide the answers to why people hold mistaken beliefs about flu shots, how we can correct these misconceptions, and what policy-makers can do to increase flu vaccination rates. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Student Misconceptions about Plants - A First Step in Building a Teaching Resource.

PubMed

Wynn, April N; Pan, Irvin L; Rueschhoff, Elizabeth E; Herman, Maryann A B; Archer, E Kathleen

2017-01-01

Plants are ubiquitous and found in virtually every ecosystem on Earth, but their biology is often poorly understood, and inaccurate ideas about how plants grow and function abound. Many articles have been published documenting student misconceptions about photosynthesis and respiration, but there are substantially fewer on such topics as plant cell structure and growth; plant genetics, evolution, and classification; plant physiology (beyond energy relations); and plant ecology. The available studies of misconceptions held on those topics show that many are formed at a very young age and persist throughout all educational levels. Our goal is to begin building a central resource of plant biology misconceptions that addresses these underrepresented topics, and here we provide a table of published misconceptions organized by topic. For greater utility, we report the age group(s) in which the misconceptions were found and then map them to the ASPB - BSA Core Concepts and Learning Objectives in Plant Biology for Undergraduates, developed jointly by the American Society of Plant Biologists and the Botanical Society of America.

Development and Use of Diagnostic Tests to Evaluate Students' Misconceptions in Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treagust, David F.

1988-01-01

Describes 10 steps for developing a diagnostic test of students' misconceptions and the use of two tests in chemistry (covalent bonding and structure) and in biology (photosynthesis and respiration in plants). Discusses the results and some implications for teaching science. (YP)

The Effective Use of an Interactive Software Program to Reduce Students' Misconceptions about Batteries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, E.-M.; Greenbowe, T. J.; Andre, T.

2004-01-01

The misconceptions of students regarding electricity and electrochemistry in the context of operation of a common flashlight are discussed. An Interactive Software Program (ISP) is used for better conceptual understanding of the operation of commercial batteries in a circuit.

The effect of remediation on reducing misconception: a metaanalysis of student thesis on physics education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oktavianty, E.; Haratua, T. M. S.; Anuru, M.

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of various remediation practices in reducing the number of student misconceptions on physics concepts. This research synthesizes 68 thesis undergraduate students of physics education which are published in Tanjungpura University library 2009-2016 period. In this study, the guidance in the form of checklist in conducting the study arranged to facilitate the understanding and assessment of the scientific work. Based on the analysis result, the average of effect size of all the synthesized thesis is 1.13. There are six forms of remedial misconceptions performed by physics education students, such as re-learning, feedback, integration of remediation in learning, physical activity, utilization of other learning resources and interviews. In addition, sampling techniques and test reliability were have contributed to the effect size of the study. Therefore, it is expected that the results of this study can be considered in preparing the remediation of misconceptions on physics learning in the future.

Student Misconceptions of an Electric Circuit: What Do They Mean?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fredette, Norman H.; Clement, John J.

1981-01-01

Discusses a common misconception in the area of electric circuits at the level of introductory college physics. The data, collected from clinical interviews, shed light on the cognitive sources of misconception. Also discusses some implications for laboratory approaches used in science courses. (Author/SK)

Misconceptions of Astronomical Distances

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Brian W.; Brewer, William F.

2010-01-01

Previous empirical studies using multiple-choice procedures have suggested that there are misconceptions about the scale of astronomical distances. The present study provides a quantitative estimate of the nature of this misconception among US university students by asking them, in an open-ended response format, to make estimates of the distances…

High school students' misconceptions in electricity and magnetism and some experiments that can help students to reduce them

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koudelkova, Vera; Dvorak, Leos

2016-05-01

The Czech Conceptual test from the area of Electricity and Magnetism was prepared at Department of Physics Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague. The first part of the paper presents three problematic topics which were identified using this test -- charge distribution on an insulators, Coulomb's law and electromagnetic induction. However, to identify misconceptions is not enough. Therefore, the main part of the paper presents some experiments which can help students to overcome their misconceptions and to better understand not only the topics mentioned above. Most of these experiments can be done with very simple tools and materials.

Targeting Instruction with Formative Assessment Probes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagan, Emily R.; Tobey, Cheryl Rose; Brodesky, Amy R.

2016-01-01

This article introduces the formative assessment probe--a powerful tool for collecting focused, actionable information about student thinking and potential misconceptions--along with a process for targeting instruction in response to probe results. Drawing on research about common student mathematical misconceptions as well as the former work of…

Factors Influencing Learning of Classical Mechanics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Champagne, Audrey B.; And Others

Beginning college physics students' misconceptions about moving objects, their mathematics skills, and formal reasoning ability, are all believed to be related to their achievement in physics. It is hypothesized that students whose knowledge structures include misconceptions that are in conflict with concepts in the lectures and text will have…

Simple Inexpensive Respirometers and Demonstrations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weise, Lisa

2006-01-01

When students use plants to investigate cellular respiration, they confront the misconception that plants only "perform" photosynthesis (Driver et. al., 1994). Because this is such a strong misconception, several experiences with plant respiration are needed before students accept the idea that plants use some of the food from photosynthesis. Part…

Essay Contest Reveals Misconceptions of High School Students in Genetics Content

PubMed Central

Mills Shaw, Kenna R.; Van Horne, Katie; Zhang, Hubert; Boughman, Joann

2008-01-01

National educational organizations have called upon scientists to become involved in K–12 education reform. From sporadic interaction with students to more sustained partnerships with teachers, the engagement of scientists takes many forms. In this case, scientists from the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), the Genetics Society of America (GSA), and the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) have partnered to organize an essay contest for high school students as part of the activities surrounding National DNA Day. We describe a systematic analysis of 500 of 2443 total essays submitted in response to this contest over 2 years. Our analysis reveals the nature of student misconceptions in genetics, the possible sources of these misconceptions, and potential ways to galvanize genetics education. PMID:18245328

"I Thought It Would Be More Glamorous": Preconceptions and Misconceptions among Students in the Public Relations Principles Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Shannon A.

2003-01-01

Addresses public speaking students' preconceptions as they begin their study and the misconceptions to which they ascribe. Finds that students often enter the basic course unaware of a management focus, shocked by the level of strategic decision making required of practitioners, and surprised by the amount of research knowledge and activity…

Advanced Undergraduate and Early Graduate Physics Students' Misconception about Solar Wind Flow: Evidence of Students' Difficulties in Distinguishing Paradigms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Nicholas A.; Lopez, Ramon E.

2009-01-01

Anecdotal evidence has suggested that advanced undergraduate students confuse the spiral structure of the interplanetary magnetic field with the flow of the solar wind. Though it is a small study, this paper documents this misconception and begins to investigate the underlying issues behind it. We present evidence that the traditional presentation…

Combining Different Conceptual Change Methods within 5E Model: A Sample Teaching Design of "Cell" Concept and its Organelles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Urey, Mustafa; Calik, Muammer

2008-01-01

Since students' misconceptions are not completely remedied by means of only one conceptual change method, the authors assume that using different conceptual methods embedded within the 5E model will not only be more effective in enhancing students' conceptual understanding, but also may eliminate all students' misconceptions. The aim of this study…

Diagnosing Students' Misconceptions in Number Sense via a Web-Based Two-Tier Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Yung-Chi; Yang, Der-Ching; Li, Mao-Neng

2016-01-01

A web-based two-tier test (WTTT-NS) which combined the advantages of traditional written tests and interviews in assessing number sense was developed and applied to assess students' answers and reasons for the questions. In addition, students' major misconceptions can be detected. A total of 1,248 sixth graders in Taiwan were selected to…

High School 9th Grade Students' Understanding Level and Misconceptions about Temperature and Factors Affecting It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbas, Yavuz

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore students' understanding levels and misconceptions about temperature and factors affecting it. The concept of the study was chosen from Geography National Curriculum. In this study, a questionnaire was developed after a pilot study with an aim to ascertain the students' understanding levels of temperature and…

Students’ misconception on equal sign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusuma, N. F.; Subanti, S.; Usodo, B.

2018-04-01

Equivalence is a very general relation in mathematics. The focus of this article is narrowed specifically to an equal sign in the context of equations. The equal sign is a symbol of mathematical equivalence. Studies have found that many students do not have a deep understanding of equivalence. Students often misinterpret the equal sign as an operational rather than a symbol of mathematical equivalence. This misinterpretation of the equal sign will be label as a misconception. It is important to discuss and must resolve immediately because it can lead to the problems in students’ understanding. The purpose of this research is to describe students’ misconception about the meaning of equal sign on equal matrices. Descriptive method was used in this study involving five students of Senior High School in Boyolali who were taking Equal Matrices course. The result of this study shows that all of the students had the misconception about the meaning of the equal sign. They interpret the equal sign as an operational symbol rather than a symbol of mathematical equivalence. Students merely solve the problem only single way, which is a computational method, so that students stuck in a monotonous way of thinking and unable to develop their creativity.

Three Misconceptions About Radiation — And What We Teachers Can Do to Confront Them

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neumann, Susanne

2014-09-01

During the last few years teaching physics, I have noticed that my students are becoming more and more interested in the topic of radiation. Mobile phones, modern game consoles, and WiFi—all of these devices involving some kind of radiation are part of our students' everyday lives. Students are also frequently confronted in the media with debates relating to different types of radiation: What are the effects of nuclear contamination going to be after the Fukushima accident? Can radiation from mobile phones really cause cancer? Should the use of tanning booths be forbidden for teenagers? Although students seem to be very motivated to learn about the topic of radiation, I have encountered several misconceptions about this topic that my students bring into the physics classroom. Some of these misconceptions might be caused by biased media reports, while others can be attributed to a different usage of the word radiation in everyday language (when compared to the scientific usage of this term). In this paper, I would like to present the most common misconceptions about radiation that I have encountered in my physics courses and I would like to give some ideas how to confront these ideas in teaching. A detailed description of these misconceptions discovered through empirical research can be found in one of my research articles.1

Students' and teachers' misapplication of le chatelier's principle: Implications for the teaching of chemical equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quílez-Pardo, Juan; Solaz-Portolés, Joan Josep

The aim of this article was to study the reasons, strategies, and procedures that both students and teachers use to solve some chemical equilibrium questions and problems. Inappropriate conceptions on teaching and a lack of knowledge regarding the limited usefulness of Le Chatelier's principle, with its vague and ambiguous formulation and textbook presentation, may be some of the sources of misconceptions about the prediction of the effect of changing conditions on chemical equilibrium. To diagnose misconceptions and their possible sources, a written test was developed and administered to 170 1st-year university chemistry students. A chemical equilibrium problem, relating to the students' test, was solved by 40 chemistry teachers. First, we ascertained that teacher's conceptions might influence the problem-solving strategies of the learner. Based on this first aspect, our discussion also concerns students' and teachers' misconceptions related to the Le Chatelier's principle. Misconceptions emerged through: (a) misapplication and misunderstanding of Le Chatelier's principle; (b) use of rote-learning recall and algorithmic procedures; (c) incorrect control of the variables involved; (d) limited use of the chemical equilibrium law; (e) a lack of mastery of chemical equilibrium principles and difficulty in transferring such principles to new situations. To avoid chemical equilibrium misconceptions, a specific pattern of conceptual and methodological change may be considered.Received: 16 November 1993; Revised: 21 September 1994;

Utility of Concept Cartoons in Diagnosing and Overcoming Misconceptions Related to Photosynthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ekici, Fatma; Ekici, Erhan; Aydin, Fatih

2007-01-01

In this study, the effectiveness of concept cartoons in diagnosing and overcoming students' misconceptions related to photosynthesis subject was examined. Firstly, the literature has been thoroughly examined and misconceptions about photosynthesis subject have been listed and then grouped. Concept cartoons related to these groups have been…

Identifying and Reconstructing Common Cold Misconceptions among Developing K-12 Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Marcus Lee; Bungum, Timothy

2013-01-01

Background: Common cold misconceptions may contribute to ill-informed decisions and recommendations made by K-12 educators who often encounter infected students. Understanding the structure of educators' misconceptions can be used to improve health instruction in teacher professional preparation programs. Purpose: The purposes of this project were…

Revising Psychology Misconceptions by Integrating a Refutation-Style Text Framework into Poster Presentations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lassonde, Karla A.; Kolquist, Molly; Vergin, Megan

2017-01-01

Refutation-style texts have been considered a viable strategy for changing psychological misconceptions. The current study aims to integrate refutation-style texts into a classroom-based method of learning. Psychology students were administered a true/false misconception survey and then viewed several refutation-style poster presentations…

Exploring Secondary Students' Knowledge and Misconceptions about Influenza: Development, validation, and implementation of a multiple-choice influenza knowledge scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romine, William L.; Barrow, Lloyd H.; Folk, William R.

2013-07-01

Understanding infectious diseases such as influenza is an important element of health literacy. We present a fully validated knowledge instrument called the Assessment of Knowledge of Influenza (AKI) and use it to evaluate knowledge of influenza, with a focus on misconceptions, in Midwestern United States high-school students. A two-phase validation process was used. In phase 1, an initial factor structure was calculated based on 205 students of grades 9-12 at a rural school. In phase 2, one- and two-dimensional factor structures were analyzed from the perspectives of classical test theory and the Rasch model using structural equation modeling and principal components analysis (PCA) on Rasch residuals, respectively. Rasch knowledge measures were calculated for 410 students from 6 school districts in the Midwest, and misconceptions were verified through the χ 2 test. Eight items measured knowledge of flu transmission, and seven measured knowledge of flu management. While alpha reliability measures for the subscales were acceptable, Rasch person reliability measures and PCA on residuals advocated for a single-factor scale. Four misconceptions were found, which have not been previously documented in high-school students. The AKI is the first validated influenza knowledge assessment, and can be used by schools and health agencies to provide a quantitative measure of impact of interventions aimed at increasing understanding of influenza. This study also adds significantly to the literature on misconceptions about influenza in high-school students, a necessary step toward strategic development of educational interventions for these students.

Turkish Undergraduates' Misconceptions of Evaporation, Evaporation Rate, and Vapour Pressure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canpolat, Nurtac

2006-01-01

This study focused on students' misconceptions related to evaporation, evaporation rate, and vapour pressure. Open-ended diagnostic questions were used with 107 undergraduates in the Primary Science Teacher Training Department in a state university in Turkey. In addition, 14 students from that sample were interviewed to clarify their written…

Student Teacher Understanding of the Greenhouse Effect, Ozone Layer Depletion, and Acid Rain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dove, Jane

1996-01-01

Describes the results of a survey designed to ascertain details of student teachers' knowledge and misconceptions about the greenhouse effect, acid rain, and ozone layer depletion. Results indicate familiarity with the issues but little understanding of the concepts involved and many commonly held misconceptions. (JRH)

Applying Scientific Principles to Resolve Student Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yin, Yue

2012-01-01

Misconceptions about sinking and floating phenomena are some of the most challenging to overcome (Yin 2005), possibly because explaining sinking and floating requires students to understand challenging topics such as density, force, and motion. Two scientific principles are typically used in U.S. science curricula to explain sinking and floating:…

Response to Dr. Smith's Comments and Criticisms Concerning "Identification of Student Misconceptions in Genetics Problem Solving via Computer Program."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Browning, Mark; Lehman, James D.

1991-01-01

Authors respond to criticisms by Smith in the same issue and defend their use of the term "gene" and "misconception." Authors indicate that they did not believe that the use of computers significantly skewed their data concerning student errors. (PR)

Transparencies on Light: Teacher's Manual. Research Series No. 130.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Charles W.; Smith, Edward L.

Results of observations and of students' performance on pretest/posttests suggest that almost all students enter the fifth grade with certain fundamental misconceptions about light and how people see. Unfortunately, fifth grade science textbooks often fail to inform teachers about these misconceptions or to suggest a teaching strategy that will…

The notion of motion: covariational reasoning and the limit concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagle, Courtney; Tracy, Tyler; Adams, Gregory; Scutella, Daniel

2017-05-01

This paper investigates outcomes of building students' intuitive understanding of a limit as a function's predicted value by examining introductory calculus students' conceptions of limit both before and after instruction. Students' responses suggest that while this approach is successful at reducing the common limit equals function value misconception of a limit, new misconceptions emerged in students' responses. Analysis of students' reasoning indicates a lack of covariational reasoning that coordinates changes in both x and y may be at the root of the emerging limit reached near x = c misconception. These results suggest that although dynamic interpretations of limit may be intuitive for many students, care must be taken to foster a dynamic conception that is both useful at the introductory calculus level and is in line with the formal notion of limit learned in advanced mathematics. In light of the findings, suggestions for adapting the pedagogical approach used in this study are provided.

A Two-Tier Multiple Choice Questions to Diagnose Thermodynamic Misconception of Thai and Laos Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamcharean, Chanwit; Wattanakasiwich, Pornrat

The objective of this study was to diagnose misconceptions of Thai and Lao students in thermodynamics by using a two-tier multiple-choice test. Two-tier multiple choice questions consist of the first tier, a content-based question and the second tier, a reasoning-based question. Data of student understanding was collected by using 10 two-tier multiple-choice questions. Thai participants were the first-year students (N = 57) taking a fundamental physics course at Chiang Mai University in 2012. Lao participants were high school students in Grade 11 (N = 57) and Grade 12 (N = 83) at Muengnern high school in Xayaboury province, Lao PDR. As results, most students answered content-tier questions correctly but chose incorrect answers for reason-tier questions. When further investigating their incorrect reasons, we found similar misconceptions as reported in previous studies such as incorrectly relating pressure with temperature when presenting with multiple variables.

Using the Method of Dominant Incorrect Answers with the FCI Test to Diagnose Misconceptions Held by First Year College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bani-Salameh, Hisham N.

2017-01-01

We started this work with the goal of detecting misconceptions held by our students about force and motion. A total of 341 students participated in this study by taking the force concept inventory (FCI) test both before and after receiving instructions about force or motion. The data from this study were analysed using different statistical…

The Mistakes and the Misconceptions of the Eighth Grade Students on the Subject of Angles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biber, Çagri; Tuna, Abdulkadir; Korkmaz, Samet

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the learning levels, mistakes, and misconceptions of the 8th grade students on the subject of "angles in geometry" as well as the possible reasons for these situations. Research sample consisted of 30 students attending the 8th grade of a middle school located in the central district of a…

Development and use of a three-tier diagnostic test to assess high school students' misconceptions about the photoelectric effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taslidere, Erdal

2016-05-01

Background: In the last few decades, researchers have turned their attention to students' understanding of scientific concepts at different school levels. The results indicate that the learners have different ideas, and most of them are inaccurate in terms of those generally accepted by the scientific community. Purpose: This study was undertaken to describe the development, validation and use of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test (PEMT) to reveal Turkish high school students' common misconceptions in terms of the photoelectric effect. Sample: In this study, 243 students (male=86, female=137) from six high schools made up the sample which comprised approximately 76% of the 11th grade population. Design and Methods: Based on findings from the literature, open-ended questions and interviews, the PEMT was developed and administered to 243 students. The data was analysed descriptively. Results: The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the scores was estimated as .83. Construct, content and face validities were established by senior experts and through the use of statistical techniques. The findings denoted that the test is a valid and reliable measure of students' qualitative understanding of the photoelectric concept. The results revealed that the majority of the students demonstrated a limited understanding of the photoelectric effect and have five prevalent misconceptions. These are: (1) an increase in intensity would provide the photon with enough energy to release electrons; (2) the photoelectric effect results from the ionization of atoms through the interaction with light; (3) a light beam whose photons have smaller energies than the work function would release electrons with the help of a voltage source; (4) the number of photoelectrons depends on the energy of the photon and (5) the photon has kinetic energy and it depends on the colour of light. The last two misconceptions were discovered in the current study. Conclusion: The findings indicated that the PEMT is a reliable and valid measuring tool for investigating high school students' conceptual understanding and misconceptions. Future studies could use the PEMT as a tool for assessing the misconceptions of high school students, pre-service science or pre-service physics teachers.

Examining the Conceptual Understandings of Geoscience Concepts of Students with Visual Impairments: Implications of 3-D Printing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koehler, Karen E.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the use of 3-D printed models as an instructional tool in a middle school science classroom for students with visual impairments and compare their use to traditional tactile graphics for aiding conceptual understanding of geoscience concepts. Specifically, this study examined if the students' conceptual understanding of plate tectonics was different when 3-D printed objects were used versus traditional tactile graphics and explored the misconceptions held by students with visual impairments related to plate tectonics and associated geoscience concepts. Interview data was collected one week prior to instruction and one week after instruction and throughout the 3-week instructional period and additional ata sources included student journals, other student documents and audio taped instructional sessions. All students in the middle school classroom received instruction on plate tectonics using the same inquiry-based curriculum but during different time periods of the day. One group of students, the 3D group, had access to 3-D printed models illustrating specific geoscience concepts and the group of students, the TG group, had access to tactile graphics illustrating the same geoscience concepts. The videotaped pre and post interviews were transcribed, analyzed and coded for conceptual understanding using constant comparative analysis and to uncover student misconceptions. All student responses to the interview questions were categorized in terms of conceptual understanding. Analysis of student journals and classroom talk served to uncover student mental models and misconceptions about plate tectonics and associated geoscience concepts to measure conceptual understanding. A slight majority of the conceptual understanding before instruction was categorized as no understanding or alternative understanding and after instruction the larger majority of conceptual understanding was categorized as scientific or scientific with fragments. Most of the participants in the study increased their scientific understandings of plate tectonics and other geoscience concepts and held more scientific understandings after instruction than before instruction. All students had misconceptions before the instructional period began, but the number of misconceptions were fewer after the instructional period. Students in the TG group not only had fewer misconceptions than the 3D group before instruction, but also after instruction. Many of the student misconceptions were similar to those held by students with typical vision; however, some were unique to students with visual impairments. One unique aspect of this study was the examination of student mental models, which had not previously been done with students with visual impairments, but is more commonplace in research on students with typical vision. Student mental models were often descriptive rather than explanatory, often incorporating scientific language, but not clearly showing that the student had a complete grasp of the concept. Consistent with prior research, the use of 3-D printed models instead of tactile graphics seemed to make little difference either positively or negatively on student conceptual understanding; however, the participants did interact with the 3-D printed models differently, sometimes gleaning additional information from them. This study also provides additional support for inquiry-based instruction as an effective means of science instruction for students with visual impairments.

Density on Dry Land.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Libarkin, Julie C.; Crockett, Cynthia D.; Sadler, Philip M.

2003-01-01

Presents activities to dispel student misconceptions about density, particularly as it applies to buoyancy. Finds that misconceptions fall under three categories: (1) size; (2) shape; and (3) material. (NB)

Prevalence of Harmful Health Misconceptions in Colorado High School Seniors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephens, Gale Elouise

This research study was undertaken to determine prevalence of health misconceptions of twelfth grade students in each of three sizes of public high schools in the state of Colorado. Also, whether prevalence of misconceptions was related to factors of: sex, grade-point average, level of father's education, level of mother's education, father's…

Pre-Service Teachers' Preconceptions, Misconceptions, and Concerns about Virtual Schooling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Compton, Lily; Davis, Niki; Correia, Ana-Paula

2010-01-01

Over the last decade, online distance education has become a common mode of study in most states in the USA, where it is known as virtual schooling (VS), but many people have misconceptions about it. Pre-service teachers' personal histories as students and their preconceptions, misconceptions, and concerns influence pre-service teacher training…

Overcoming Misconceptions in Neurophysiology Learning: An Approach Using Color-Coded Animations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guy, Richard

2012-01-01

Anyone who has taught neurophysiology would be aware of recurring concepts that students find difficult to understand. However, a greater problem is the development of misconceptions that may be difficult to change. For example, one common misconception is that action potentials pass directly across chemical synapses. Difficulties may be…

Development of Three-Tier Heat, Temperature and Internal Energy Diagnostic Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurcay, Deniz; Gulbas, Etna

2015-01-01

Background: Misconceptions are major obstacles to learning physics, and the concepts of heat and temperature are some of the common misconceptions that are encountered in daily life. Therefore, it is important to develop valid and reliable tools to determine students' misconceptions about basic thermodynamics concepts. Three-tier tests are…

Addressing Misconceptions in Geometry through Written Error Analyses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kembitzky, Kimberle A.

2009-01-01

This study examined the improvement of students' comprehension of geometric concepts through analytical writing about their own misconceptions using a reflective tool called an ERNIe (acronym for ERror aNalyIsis). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the ERNIe process could be used to correct geometric misconceptions, as well as how…

The Origins of Force--Misconceptions and Classroom Controversy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinberg, Melvin S.

Misconceptions associated with the origins of force and the effectiveness of a bridging strategy for developing correct conceptual models in mechanics are identified for high school physics teachers in this paper. The situation investigated was whether a table exerts an upward force on a book. Student misconceptions related to this phenomenon as…

Student Misconceptions about Plants – A First Step in Building a Teaching Resource†

PubMed Central

Wynn, April N.; Pan, Irvin L.; Rueschhoff, Elizabeth E.; Herman, Maryann A. B.; Archer, E. Kathleen

2017-01-01

Plants are ubiquitous and found in virtually every ecosystem on Earth, but their biology is often poorly understood, and inaccurate ideas about how plants grow and function abound. Many articles have been published documenting student misconceptions about photosynthesis and respiration, but there are substantially fewer on such topics as plant cell structure and growth; plant genetics, evolution, and classification; plant physiology (beyond energy relations); and plant ecology. The available studies of misconceptions held on those topics show that many are formed at a very young age and persist throughout all educational levels. Our goal is to begin building a central resource of plant biology misconceptions that addresses these underrepresented topics, and here we provide a table of published misconceptions organized by topic. For greater utility, we report the age group(s) in which the misconceptions were found and then map them to the ASPB – BSA Core Concepts and Learning Objectives in Plant Biology for Undergraduates, developed jointly by the American Society of Plant Biologists and the Botanical Society of America. PMID:28912929

Prototypical Concepts and Misconceptions of Plate Tectonic Boundaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sibley, D. F.; Patino, L. C.

2003-12-01

Students of geology encounter many prototypical/exemplar concepts* that include representative, but not necessarily defining, features and characteristics. This study of students' prototypical representations of plate tectonic boundaries indicates that their representations are rich sources of information about their misconceptions about plate tectonics. After lectures in plate tectonics and mountain building, 353 students in a general education geology class were asked to draw a continent-continent convergent boundary. For this study, a correct answer is defined as having the major features in correct proportions as depicted in the plate boundary diagrams on the USGS web. Fifty-two percent of the drawings were either incorrect or incomplete such that they could not be interpreted. Only 48% were readily interpretable, and of these 22% drew the boundary correctly, showing a thickening of crust where two continents collide. Thirty-three percent drew the boundary showing concave slabs of continental crust as one might imagine two pieces of firm rubber pushed together on a rigid surface and 45% depicted mountains as one might imagine inverted ice cream cones on a rigid plank. Twenty-one senior class geology majors and graduate students were given the same assignment. Forty-eight percent rendered a correct drawing, whereas 38% drew the same ice cream cone on a plank type picture that 45% of the general education students drew. In a second class of 12 geology majors, only 1 student drew a cross section of a continent-ocean boundary similar to standard representation. Four of 12 drew mountains on the top of continental crust over a subduction zone but did not draw a compensating mass within the crust or lithosphere. Prototypical drawings provide more information about students' concepts than do most multiple-choice questions. For example, sixty-two percent of theses students who drew mountains similar to foam rubber pads pushed together on a desk or ice cream cones on a plank correctly answered a multiple-choice question that would appear to indicate a better understanding than the drawings reveal. Furthermore, 12 interviewed students made statements that could be interpreted to indicate that they understood the concept of mountain building at plate tectonic boundaries better than their drawings suggest. Incoherence of multiple-choice responses, verbal statements and drawings may be common in novice learners. If cognitive scientists are correct in their model of multiple types of mental representations for the same term, then the fact that novices may hold inconsistent representations is not surprising. The fact that students at various academic levels draw very similar prototypes that are incorrect is evidence that students have distinct and persistent prototype misconceptions. * Cognitive scientists define a prototypical/exemplar concept as a mental representation of the best examples or central tendencies of a term.

The Equal Sign: Teachers' Knowledge and Students' Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vermeulen, Cornelis; Meyer, Bronwin

2017-01-01

This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which 57 Grade 6 students at a particular school have misconceptions regarding equality, with the equal sign as focus. It also investigated this school's three Grade 5 and 6 teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching regarding equality, again focusing on the equal sign. The…

Misconceptions in Optics: Their Persistence at University Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gil Llinas, J.; Suero Lopez, M. I.; Perez Rodriguez, A. L.; Solano Macias, F.

2003-01-01

Presents a study on misconceptions in optics with the objective of checking their persistence over time in spite of the continued academic instruction of students. Involves (n=4000) students of all levels of the Spanish educational system as well as with those at a Spanish university with degrees in medicine, chemical sciences, technical…

Exploring Seventh-Grade Students' and Pre-Service Science Teachers' Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korur, Fikret

2015-01-01

Pre-service science teachers' conceptual understanding of astronomical concepts and their misconceptions in these concepts is crucial to study since they will teach these subjects in middle schools after becoming teachers. This study aimed to explore both seventh-grade students' and the science teachers' understanding of astronomical concepts and…

Using Astronomical Photographs to Investigate Misconceptions about Galaxies and Spectra: Question Development for Clicker Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Hyunju; Schneider, Stephen E.

2015-01-01

Many topics in introductory astronomy at the college or high-school level rely implicitly on using astronomical photographs and visual data in class. However, students bring many preconceptions to their understanding of these materials that ultimately lead to misconceptions, and the research about students' interpretation of astronomical images…

Genetics and Cinema: Personal Misconceptions That Constitute Obstacles to Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muela, Francisco Javier; Abril, Ana María

2014-01-01

The primary objective of this paper is to find out whether the genetic concepts conveyed by cinema could encourage students' personal misconceptions in this area. To that end, two sources of conceptions were compared: the students' personal concepts (from a consolidated bibliography and from an experimental sample) and the concepts conveyed by…

The Design and Development of Identification of Students' Misconceptions in Individualized Learning Environment (iSMILE) System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhagat, Kaushal Kumar; Subheesh, N. P.; Bhattacharya, Bani; Chang, Chun-Yen

2017-01-01

With the rapid development of technology, incorporation of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for formative assessment purpose has been increasing over the past decade. This article describes the design and development of identification of students' misconceptions in an individualized learning environment (iSMILE) system that includes…

Nothing in Evolution Makes Sense Except in the Light of DNA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalinowski, Steven T.; Leonard, Mary J.; Andrews, Tessa M.

2010-01-01

Natural selection is one of the most important concepts for biology students to understand, but students frequently have misconceptions regarding how natural selection operates. Many of these misconceptions, such as a belief in "Lamarckian" evolution, are based on a misunderstanding of inheritance. In this essay, we argue that evolution…

An Investigation of Lebanese G7-12 Students' Misconceptions and Difficulties in Genetics and Their Genetics Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osman, Enja; BouJaoude, Saouma; Hamdan, Hiba

2017-01-01

Lebanese educators claim that middle and secondary school students exhibit poor understanding of genetics due to misconceptions and difficulties that hinder progression in conceptual understanding of major genetics concepts and phenomena across different grade levels. They attributed these problems to Lebanon's ill-structured genetics curriculum…

Creationism as a Misconception: Socio-Cognitive Conflict in the Teaching of Evolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Colin

2012-01-01

This position paper argues that students' understanding and acceptance of evolution may be supported, rather than hindered, by classroom discussion of creationism. Parallels are drawn between creationism and other scientific misconceptions, both of the scientific community in the past and of students in the present. Science teachers frequently…

Using a Teaching Model To Correct Known Misconceptions in Electrochemistry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huddle, Penelope Ann; White, Margaret Dawn; Rogers, Fiona

2000-01-01

Describes a concrete teaching model designed to eliminate students' misconceptions about current flow in electrochemistry. The model uses a semi-permeable membrane rather than a salt bridge to complete the circuit and demonstrate the maintenance of cell neutrality. Concludes that use of the model led to improvement in students' understanding at…

Using Astronomical Photographs to Investigate Misconceptions about Galaxies and Spectra: Question Development for Clicker Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Hyunju; Schneider, Stephen E.

2015-01-01

Many topics in introductory astronomy at the college or high-school level rely implicitly on using astronomical photographs and visual data in class. However, students bring many preconceptions to their understanding of these materials that ultimately lead to misconceptions, and research about students' interpretation of astronomical images has…

Bridging Emergent Attributes and Darwinian Principles in Teaching Natural Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Dongchen; Chi, Michelene T. H.

2016-01-01

Students often have misconceptions about natural selection as they misuse a direct causal schema to explain the process. Natural selection is in fact an emergent process where random interactions lead to changes in a population. The misconceptions stem from students' lack of emergent schema for natural selection. In order to help students…

Designing Project-Enhanced Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilhelm, Jennifer; Confey, Jere

2005-01-01

The concept of waves is fundamental due to its occurrence throughout the natural world. Because the concept occurs in so many places, students come to the classroom with prior knowledge, as well as misconceptions, about waves. Students have misconceptions about what is waving in a wave, what properties of the medium determine wave speed, and how…

Teaching about Water Relations in Plant Cells: An Uneasy Struggle

PubMed Central

Malińska, Lilianna; Rybska, Eliza; Sobieszczuk-Nowicka, Ewa; Adamiec, Małgorzata

2016-01-01

University students often struggle to understand the role of water in plant cells. In particular, osmosis and plasmolysis appear to be challenging topics. This study attempted to identify student difficulties (including misconceptions) concerning osmosis and plasmolysis and examined to what extent the difficulties could be revised during a plant physiology course. A questionnaire was developed to monitor university students’ conceptual knowledge before and after a course, and both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained. The data were analyzed using the constant comparison technique and descriptive statistics. Students were found to come to university with many misconceptions that had accumulated during their education. These misconceptions are extremely difficult to change during the traditional course, which comprises lectures and practical exercises. Students’ misconceptions originate from commonly used sources such as textbooks, which are perceived as being reliable. Effective teaching of water relations in plant cells could include such didactic methods as “questioning the author,” which allow teachers to monitor students’ knowledge and help students acquire a more scientific understanding of key concepts. PMID:27909028

Elementary Pre-Service Teacher Perceptions of the Greenhouse Effect.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groves, Fred H.; Pugh, Ava F.

1999-01-01

Expands on earlier work to examine pre-service teachers' views on environmental issues, especially global warming and the related term "greenhouse effect." Suggests that pre-service elementary teachers hold many misconceptions about environmental issues. (DDR)

The Effect of Conceptual Change Approach to Eliminate 9th Grade High School Students' Misconceptions about Air Pressure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbas, Yavuz; Gencturk, Ebru

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of teaching based on conceptual change overcome misconceptions of 9th grade high school students about the subject of air pressure. The sampling of the study was formed with two classes of 9th grade students from a general high school in the city-center of Trabzon. A quasi-experimental…

Misconceptions of Turkish Pre-Service Teachers about Force and Motion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bayraktar, Sule

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to diagnose the misconceptions held by pre-service physics teachers about force and motion. The secondary aim of the study was to detect whether misconceptions vary according to gender, educational level, and culture. The study was conducted with 79 student-teachers attending to one of the largest faculties of…

Overcoming Misconceptions in Quantum Mechanics with the Time Evolution Operator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quijas, P. C. Garcia; Aguilar, L. M. Arevalo

2007-01-01

Recently, there have been many efforts to use the research techniques developed in the field of physics education research to improve the teaching and learning of quantum mechanics. In particular, part of this research is focusing on misconceptions held by students. For instance, a set of misconceptions is associated with the concept of stationary…

Using the method of dominant incorrect answers with the FCI test to diagnose misconceptions held by first year college students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bani-Salameh, Hisham N.

2017-01-01

We started this work with the goal of detecting misconceptions held by our students about force and motion. A total of 341 students participated in this study by taking the force concept inventory (FCI) test both before and after receiving instructions about force or motion. The data from this study were analysed using different statistical techniques with results from frequencies and the dominant incorrect answer reported in this paper. All misconceptions reported in the original paper of the designers of the FCI test (Hestenes et al 1992 Phys. Teach. 30 141-58) were examined and the results are reported. Only pre test results are reported in this paper leaving post data for future work. We used the modified version of the FCI containing 30 questions and therefore used the revised list of misconceptions. Problems with impetus and active force are among the most dominant ones found with the full list reported in this paper.

Teaching about Water Relations in Plant Cells: An Uneasy Struggle.

PubMed

Malińska, Lilianna; Rybska, Eliza; Sobieszczuk-Nowicka, Ewa; Adamiec, Małgorzata

University students often struggle to understand the role of water in plant cells. In particular, osmosis and plasmolysis appear to be challenging topics. This study attempted to identify student difficulties (including misconceptions) concerning osmosis and plasmolysis and examined to what extent the difficulties could be revised during a plant physiology course. A questionnaire was developed to monitor university students' conceptual knowledge before and after a course, and both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained. The data were analyzed using the constant comparison technique and descriptive statistics. Students were found to come to university with many misconceptions that had accumulated during their education. These misconceptions are extremely difficult to change during the traditional course, which comprises lectures and practical exercises. Students' misconceptions originate from commonly used sources such as textbooks, which are perceived as being reliable. Effective teaching of water relations in plant cells could include such didactic methods as "questioning the author," which allow teachers to monitor students' knowledge and help students acquire a more scientific understanding of key concepts. © 2016 L. Malińska et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

A guided enquiry approach to introduce basic concepts concerning magnetic hysteresis to minimize student misconceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Yajun; Zhai, Zhaohui; Gunnarsson, Klas; Svedlindh, Peter

2014-11-01

Basic concepts concerning magnetic hysteresis are of vital importance in understanding magnetic materials. However, these concepts are often misinterpreted by many students and even textbooks. We summarize the most common misconceptions and present a new approach to help clarify these misconceptions and enhance students’ understanding of the hysteresis loop. In this approach, students are required to perform an experiment and plot the measured magnetization values and thereby calculated demagnetizing field, internal field, and magnetic induction as functions of the applied field point by point on the same graph. The concepts of the various coercivity, remanence, saturation magnetization, and saturation induction will not be introduced until this stage. By plotting this graph, students are able to interlink all the preceding concepts and intuitively visualize the underlying physical relations between them.

Formative Assessment Pre-Test to Identify College Students' Prior Knowledge, Misconceptions and Learning Difficulties in Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazarowitz, Reuven; Lieb, Carl

2006-01-01

A formative assessment pretest was administered to undergraduate students at the beginning of a science course in order to find out their prior knowledge, misconceptions and learning difficulties on the topic of the human respiratory system and energy issues. Those findings could provide their instructors with the valuable information required in…

Students' Misconceptions in Interpreting Center and Variability of Data Represented via Histograms and Stem-and-Leaf Plots

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Linda L.; Shore, Felice S.

2008-01-01

This paper identifies and discusses misconceptions that students have in making judgments of center and variability when data are presented graphically. An assessment addressing interpreting center and variability in histograms and stem-and-leaf plots was administered to, and follow-up interviews were conducted with, undergraduates enrolled in…

Diagnostic Assessment of Student Misconceptions about the Particulate Nature of Matter from Ontological Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Özalp, Dilek; Kahveci, Ajda

2015-01-01

Student conceptions related with matter and the particulate nature of matter (PNM), are vital for advanced understanding in chemistry, and have been a research area of significant attention. Lacking in the literature are studies addressing chemical misconceptions from an ontological point of view. The purpose of the current study was to develop a…

Development of the Bonding Representations Inventory to Identify Student Misconceptions about Covalent and Ionic Bonding Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luxford, Cynthia J.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2014-01-01

Teachers use multiple representations to communicate the concepts of bonding, including Lewis structures, formulas, space-filling models, and 3D manipulatives. As students learn to interpret these multiple representations, they may develop misconceptions that can create problems in further learning of chemistry. Interviews were conducted with 28…

Internet as a Source of Misconception: "Radiation and Radioactivity"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acar Sesen, Burcin; Ince, Elif

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine students' usage styles of the Internet for seeking information and to investigate whether information obtained from the Internet is a source of misconceptions. For this reason, a two-stage study was conducted. At the first stage, a questionnaire was developed to get information about students' Internet usage…

Growing Pebbles and Conceptual Prisms - Understanding the Source of Student Misconceptions about Rock Formation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kusnick, Judi

2002-01-01

Analyzes narrative essays--stories of rock formation--written by pre-service elementary school teachers. Reports startling misconceptions among preservice teachers on pebbles that grow, human involvement in rock formation, and sedimentary rocks forming as puddles as dry up, even though these students had completed a college level course on Earth…

Comparing the Impacts of Tutorial and Edutainment Software Programs on Students' Achievements, Misconceptions, and Attitudes towards Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kara, Yilmaz; Yesilyurt, Selami

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of tutorial and edutainment design of instructional software programs related to the "cell division" topic on student achievements, misconceptions and attitudes. An experimental research design including the cell division achievement test (CAT), the cell division concept test (CCT) and…

Assessing the Effects of Tutorial and Edutainment Software Programs on Students' Achievements, Misconceptions and Attitudes towards Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kara, Yilmaz; Yesilyurt, Selami

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of tutorial and edutainment software programs related to "genetic concepts" topic on student achievements, misconceptions and attitudes. An experimental research design including the genetic concepts achievement test (GAT), the genetic concept test (GCT) and biology attitude scale…

Using Animations in Identifying General Chemistry Students' Misconceptions and Evaluating Their Knowledge Transfer Relating to Particle Position in Physical Changes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, K. Christopher; Villarreal, Savannah

2015-01-01

This article reports on the types of views and misconceptions uncovered after assessing 155 freshman general chemistry students on the concept of particle position during the reversible physical change of melting, using the Melting Cycle Instrument, which illustrates particulate-level representations of a melting-freezing cycle. Animations…

The Effects of Computer-Assisted Material on Students' Cognitive Levels, Misconceptions and Attitudes Towards Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cepni, Salih; Tas, Erol; Kose, Sacit

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Computer-Assisted Instruction Material (CAIM) related to "photosynthesis" topic on student cognitive development, misconceptions and attitudes. The study conducted in 2002-2003 academic year and was carried out in two different classes taught by the same teacher, in which…

Closing the "Hole in the Sky": The Use of Refutation-Oriented Instruction to Correct Students' Climate Change Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chew-Hung; Pascua, Liberty; Ess, Frances

2018-01-01

This article discusses the implementation of a pedagogical tool aimed at the refutation of secondary school (grade ten-equivalent) students' persistent climate change misconceptions. Using a lesson study approach, the materials and intervention techniques used were developed collaboratively with geography teachers. The objective is two-pronged: to…

An inventory on rotational kinematics of a particle: unravelling misconceptions and pitfalls in reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mashood, K. K.; Singh, Vijay A.

2012-09-01

Student difficulties regarding the angular velocity (\\vec{\\omega }) and angular acceleration (\\vec{\\alpha }) of a particle have remained relatively unexplored in contrast to their linear counterparts. We present an inventory comprising multiple choice questions aimed at probing misconceptions and eliciting ill-suited reasoning patterns. The development of the inventory was based on interactions with students, teachers and experts. We report misconceptions, some of which are parallel to those found earlier in linear kinematics. Fixations with inappropriate prototypes were uncovered. Many students and even teachers mistakenly assume that all rotational motion is necessarily circular. A persistent notion that the direction of \\vec{\\omega } and \\vec{\\alpha } should be ‘along’ the motion exists. Instances of indiscriminate usage of equations were identified.

Through the minefield: teaching climate change in a misinformation-rich environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedford, D. P.; Cook, J.; Schuenemann, K. C.; Mandia, S. A.; Cowtan, K.; Nuccitelli, D.

2016-12-01

It is now widely accepted that students enter science classrooms with their own, often erroneous, pre-existing models of basic scientific concepts. These misconceptions can interfere with student learning. However, the science of climate change is perhaps distinctive in that a deliberate effort has been undertaken by a variety of individuals and institutions to promulgate and perpetuate misconceptions. Both formal and informal efforts to communicate the science of climate change must therefore contend with the effects of these misconceptions, which may be passionately held and in strong opposition to the findings of peer-reviewed research. This presentation reports on the current state of research on misinformation and misconceptions; identifies common mistakes made in attempting to address misconceptions; and details a model which can help to avoid making most, if not all, of these common mistakes. In sum, research in cognitive psychology has shown that misconceptions are extraordinarily difficult to remove, with individuals commonly rejecting information that does not fit with their existing mental models. Attempts to address misconceptions directly can backfire if too much emphasis is placed on the misconception (i.e. leading with the myth) or by reinforcing the misconception at the expense of more accurate explanations (the familiarity backfire effect). Thus, a preferred approach involves a "myth sandwich" of facts followed by myth, followed by an explanation of how the myth distorts the facts. The misconception is therefore sandwiched between facts. This approach has been tested in a widely subscribed MOOC (Denial 101X, by Cook et al., 2015), and a textbook (Bedford and Cook, 2016). This presentation provides fundamental background on effective climate change myth debunking, and will include preliminary data regarding the efficacy of the "myth sandwich" approach.

Bridging clinical researcher perceptions and health IT realities: A case study of stakeholder creep.

PubMed

Panyard, Daniel J; Ramly, Edmond; Dean, Shannon M; Bartels, Christie M

2018-02-01

We present a case report detailing a challenge in health information technology (HIT) project implementations we term "stakeholder creep": not thoroughly identifying which stakeholders need to be involved and why before starting a project, consequently not understanding the true effort, skill sets, social capital, and time required to complete the project. A root cause analysis was performed post-implementation to understand what led to stakeholder creep. HIT project stakeholders were given a questionnaire to comment on these misconceptions and a proposed implementation tool to help mitigate stakeholder creep. Stakeholder creep contributed to an unexpected increase in time (3-month delayed go-live) and effort (68% over expected HIT work hours). Four main clinician/researcher misconceptions were identified that contributed to the development of stakeholder creep: 1) that EHR IT is a single group; 2) that all EHR IT members know the entire EHR functionality; 3) that changes to an EHR need the input of just a single EHR IT member; and 4) that the technological complexity of a project mirrors the clinical complexity. HIT project stakeholders similarly perceived clinicians/researchers to hold these misconceptions. The proposed stakeholder planning tool was perceived to be feasible and helpful. Stakeholder creep can negatively affect HIT project implementations. Projects may be susceptible to stakeholder creep when clinicians/researchers hold misconceptions related to HIT organization and processes. Implementation tools, such as the proposed stakeholder checklist, could be helpful in preempting and mitigating the effect of stakeholder creep. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tracking the Resolution of Student Misconceptions about the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology†

PubMed Central

Briggs, Amy G.; Morgan, Stephanie K.; Sanderson, Seth K.; Schulting, Molly C.; Wieseman, Laramie J.

2016-01-01

The goal of our study was to track changes in student understanding of the central dogma of molecular biology before and after taking a genetics course. Concept maps require the ability to synthesize new information into existing knowledge frameworks, and so the hypothesis guiding this study was that student performance on concept maps reveals specific central dogma misconceptions gained, lost, and retained by students. Students in a genetics course completed pre- and posttest concept mapping tasks using terms related to the central dogma. Student maps increased in complexity and validity, indicating learning gains in both content and complexity of understanding. Changes in each of the 351 possible connections in the mapping task were tracked for each student. Our students did not retain much about the central dogma from their introductory biology courses, but they did move to more advanced levels of understanding by the end of the genetics course. The information they retained from their introductory courses focused on structural components (e.g., protein is made of amino acids) and not on overall mechanistic components (e.g., DNA comes before RNA, the ribosome makes protein). Students made the greatest gains in connections related to transcription, and they resolved the most prior misconceptions about translation. These concept-mapping tasks revealed that students are able to correct prior misconceptions about the central dogma during an intermediate-level genetics course. From these results, educators can design new classroom interventions to target those aspects of this foundational principle with which students have the most trouble. PMID:28101260

Tracking the Resolution of Student Misconceptions about the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology.

PubMed

Briggs, Amy G; Morgan, Stephanie K; Sanderson, Seth K; Schulting, Molly C; Wieseman, Laramie J

2016-12-01

The goal of our study was to track changes in student understanding of the central dogma of molecular biology before and after taking a genetics course. Concept maps require the ability to synthesize new information into existing knowledge frameworks, and so the hypothesis guiding this study was that student performance on concept maps reveals specific central dogma misconceptions gained, lost, and retained by students. Students in a genetics course completed pre- and posttest concept mapping tasks using terms related to the central dogma. Student maps increased in complexity and validity, indicating learning gains in both content and complexity of understanding. Changes in each of the 351 possible connections in the mapping task were tracked for each student. Our students did not retain much about the central dogma from their introductory biology courses, but they did move to more advanced levels of understanding by the end of the genetics course. The information they retained from their introductory courses focused on structural components (e.g., protein is made of amino acids) and not on overall mechanistic components (e.g., DNA comes before RNA, the ribosome makes protein). Students made the greatest gains in connections related to transcription, and they resolved the most prior misconceptions about translation. These concept-mapping tasks revealed that students are able to correct prior misconceptions about the central dogma during an intermediate-level genetics course. From these results, educators can design new classroom interventions to target those aspects of this foundational principle with which students have the most trouble.

Science Misconceptions and Funds of Knowledge: Impact on STEM Choices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Millham, R. A.

2015-12-01

Alternate conceptions (misconceptions) in science can hinder understandings and impact student growth and comfort level in the science classroom. Resarch has, and still does, demonstrate that science misconceptions are still prevelant in many conceptual frameworks. Although breaking down misconceptions to rebuild scientifically sound conceptual frameworks are practices used in many science classrooms, misconceptions still persist. After identifying specific misconceptions, we asked our participating teachers to conduct specific instructional interventions in an effort to mitigate misconceptions and bring about scientific understandings with excellent results overall. However, important factors also need condsideration: funds of knowledge and the abilty to determine the differnce between understandings and beliefs held by an individual. This abstract deals with what has been determined in the research conducted by the author, and the next steps to better understandings about how to mitigate alternate conceptions.

HPV Misconceptions Among College Students: The Role of Health Literacy.

PubMed

Albright, Amy E; Allen, Rebecca S

2018-06-19

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is currently the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, with potentially serious health consequences, including cervical cancer. Young adults are particularly at risk of infection, but many remain unvaccinated. Low health literacy may contribute to poor knowledge of HPV and lack of vaccine uptake, and women living in the Southeastern United States are particularly at risk for lower vaccination rates and cervical cancer screening adherence. Three-hundred-sixty undergraduates at a Southeastern U.S. University completed measures of health literacy, sexual attitudes, and HPV knowledge in 2016. Less than half of both male and female participants had completed an HPV vaccine series, and there were no differences in health literacy scores between participants who had completed a vaccine series and those who had not. Forty subjects were familiar with HPV vaccines but not the virus itself. More than half of these individuals had received at least one dose of an HPV vaccine, highlighting a lack of knowledge regarding the purpose of this vaccine. While health literacy was not related to vaccination status, it was associated with greater knowledge of both HPV and available vaccines. Participants who were familiar with HPV had higher health literacy than participants who were not. College students hold serious misconceptions about HPV that may be redressed through public health education programs to increase health literacy and knowledge. Such public health interventions would potentially increase HPV vaccine uptake, leading to decreased cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates.

A Study on Identifying the Misconceptions of Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers about Basic Astronomy Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanli, Uygar

2014-01-01

Nowadays, the importance given to astronomy teaching in science and physics education has been gradually increasing. At the same time, teachers play an important role in remediating the misconceptions about astronomy concepts held by students. The present study aims to determine the misconceptions of pre-service physics teachers (n = 117),…

Analysis of statistical misconception in terms of statistical reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maryati, I.; Priatna, N.

2018-05-01

Reasoning skill is needed for everyone to face globalization era, because every person have to be able to manage and use information from all over the world which can be obtained easily. Statistical reasoning skill is the ability to collect, group, process, interpret, and draw conclusion of information. Developing this skill can be done through various levels of education. However, the skill is low because many people assume that statistics is just the ability to count and using formulas and so do students. Students still have negative attitude toward course which is related to research. The purpose of this research is analyzing students’ misconception in descriptive statistic course toward the statistical reasoning skill. The observation was done by analyzing the misconception test result and statistical reasoning skill test; observing the students’ misconception effect toward statistical reasoning skill. The sample of this research was 32 students of math education department who had taken descriptive statistic course. The mean value of misconception test was 49,7 and standard deviation was 10,6 whereas the mean value of statistical reasoning skill test was 51,8 and standard deviation was 8,5. If the minimal value is 65 to state the standard achievement of a course competence, students’ mean value is lower than the standard competence. The result of students’ misconception study emphasized on which sub discussion that should be considered. Based on the assessment result, it was found that students’ misconception happen on this: 1) writing mathematical sentence and symbol well, 2) understanding basic definitions, 3) determining concept that will be used in solving problem. In statistical reasoning skill, the assessment was done to measure reasoning from: 1) data, 2) representation, 3) statistic format, 4) probability, 5) sample, and 6) association.

Test Of Astronomy STandards TOAST Survey of K-12 Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, Stephanie; Stork, Debra J.

2015-01-01

Discipline-based education research in astronomy is focused on understanding the underlying mental mechanisms used by students when learning astronomy and teachers when teaching astronomy. Systematic surveys of K-12 teacher' knowledge in the domain of astronomy are conducted periodically in order to better focus and improve professional development. These surveys are most often done when doing contemporary needs assessments or when new assessment instruments are readily available. Designed by Stephanie J. Slater of the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research, the 29-item multiple-choice format Test Of Astronomy STandards - TOAST is a carefully constructed, criterion-referenced instrument constructed upon a solid list of clearly articulated and widely agreed upon learning objectives. The targeted learning concepts tightly align with the consensus learning goals stated by the American Astronomical Society - Chair's Conference on ASTRO 101, the American Association of the Advancement of Science's Project 2061 Benchmarks, and the National Research Council's 1996 National Science Education Standards. Without modification, the TOAST is also aligned with the significantly less ambitious 2013 Next Generation Science Standards created by Achieve, Inc., under the auspices of the National Research Council. This latest survey reveals that K-12 teachers still hold many of the same fundamental misconceptions uncovered by earlier surveys. This includes misconceptions about the size, scale, and structure of the cosmos as well as misconceptions about the nature of physical processes at work in astronomy. This suggests that professional development in astronomy is still needed and that modern curriculum materials are best served if they provide substantial support for implementation.

The Investigation of 6th Grade Student Misconceptions Originated from Didactic about the "Digestive System" Subject

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozgur, Sami; Pelitoglu, Fatma Cildir

2008-01-01

In this study, the misconceptions emerged as a result of instruction were examined from the viewpoint of the Didactic Transposition Theory. To this end, two randomly selected sample groups (n = 33 and n = 31) from the students of two nearby schools in downtown Balikesir were included in the study. It was observed that different knowledge…

Trends Concerning Four Misconceptions in Students' Intuitively-Based Probabilistic Reasoning Sourced in the Heuristic of Representativeness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kustos, Paul Nicholas

2010-01-01

Student difficulty in the study of probability arises in intuitively-based misconceptions derived from heuristics. One such heuristic, the one of note for this research study, is that of representativeness, in which an individual informally assesses the probability of an event based on the degree to which the event is similar to the sample from…

Development of a Three-Tier Test as a Valid Diagnostic Tool for Identification of Misconceptions Related to Carbohydrates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milenkovic, Dusica D.; Hrin, Tamara N.; Segedinac, Mirjana D.; Horvat, Sasa

2016-01-01

This study describes the development and application of a three-tier test as a valid and reliable tool in diagnosing students' misconceptions regarding some basic concepts about carbohydrates. The test was administrated to students of the Pharmacy Department at the University of Bijeljina (Serb Republic). The results denoted construct and content…

Using Learning Analytics to Identify Medical Student Misconceptions in an Online Virtual Patient Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poitras, Eric G.; Naismith, Laura M.; Doleck, Tenzin; Lajoie, Susanne P.

2016-01-01

This study aimed to identify misconceptions in medical student knowledge by mining user interactions in the MedU online learning environment. Data from 13000 attempts at a single virtual patient case were extracted from the MedU MySQL database. A subgroup discovery method was applied to identify patterns in learner-generated annotations and…

The Development of Discovery-Inquiry Learning Model to Reduce the Science Misconceptions of Junior High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tompo, Basman; Ahmad, Arifin; Muris, Muris

2016-01-01

The main objective of this research was to develop discovery inquiry (DI) learning model to reduce the misconceptions of Science student level of secondary school that is valid, practical, and effective. This research was an R&D (research and development). The trials of discovery inquiry (DI) learning model were carried out in two different…

The Bottom Line: An Exercise to Help Students Understand How Social Inequality Is Actively Constructed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abelev, Melissa; Vincent, M. Bess; Haney, Timothy J.

2008-01-01

One of the important misconceptions in the American view of poverty is that people are poor because they do not work. This article presents an exercise, the "bottom line," which helps dispel students' misconceptions about the working poor. Through extensive primary-data collection and assembling a budget for low-skilled workers, the exercise: (1)…

Exploring high-achieving sixth grade students' erroneous answers and misconceptions on the angle concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bütüner, Suphi Önder; Filiz, Mehmet

2017-05-01

The aim of this research was to investigate high achievers' erroneous answers and misconceptions on the angle concept. The participants consisted of 233 grade 6 students drawn from eight classes in two well-established elementary schools of Trabzon, Turkey. All the participants were considered to be current achievers in mathematics, graded 4 or 5 out of 5, and selected via a purposive sampling method. Data were collected through six questions reflecting the learning competencies set out in the grade 6 curriculum in Turkey and the findings of previous studies that aimed to identify students' misconceptions of the angle concept. This questionnaire was then applied over a 40-minute period in each class. The findings were analysed by two researchers whose inter-rater agreement was computed as 0.97, or almost perfect. Thereafter, coding discrepancies were resolved, and consensus was established. We found that although the participants in this study were high achievers, they still held several misconceptions on the angle concept such as recognizing a straight angle or a right angle in different orientations. We also show how some of these misconceptions could have arisen due to the definitions or representations used in the textbook, and offer suggestions concerning their content in the future.

Unweaving misconceptions: Guided learning, simulations, and misconceptions in learning principles of natural selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weeks, Brian E.

College students often come to the study of evolutionary biology with many misconceptions of how the processes of natural selection and speciation occur. How to relinquish these misconceptions with learners is a question that many educators face in introductory biology courses. Constructivism as a theoretical framework has become an accepted and promoted model within the epistemology of science instruction. However, constructivism is not without its skeptics who see some problems of its application in lacking necessary guidance for novice learners. This study within a quantitative, quasi-experimental format tested whether guided online instruction in a video format of common misconceptions in evolutionary biology produced higher performance on a survey of knowledge of natural selection versus more constructivist style learning in the form of student exploration of computer simulations of the evolutionary process. Performances on surveys were also explored for a combination of constructivist and guided techniques to determine if a consolidation of approaches produced higher test scores. Out of the 94 participants 95% displayed at least one misconception of natural selection in the pre-test while the study treatments produced no statistically significant improvements in post-test scores except within the video (guided learning treatment). These overall results demonstrated the stubbornness of misconceptions involving natural selection for adult learners and the difficulty of helping them overcome them. It also bolsters the idea that some misconceptions of natural selection and evolution may be hardwired in a neurological sense and that new, more long-term teaching techniques may be warranted. Such long-term strategies may not be best implemented with constructivist techniques alone, and it is likely that some level of guidance may be necessary for novice adult learners. A more substantial, nuanced approach for undergraduates is needed that consolidates successful teaching strategies to adult students that is based on current research.

Comparing the Impacts of Tutorial and Edutainment Software Programs on Students' Achievements, Misconceptions, and Attitudes towards Biology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kara, Yılmaz; Yeşilyurt, Selami

2008-02-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of tutorial and edutainment design of instructional software programs related to the "cell division" topic on student achievements, misconceptions and attitudes. An experimental research design including the cell division achievement test (CAT), the cell division concept test (CCT) and biology attitude scale (BAS) was applied at the beginning and at the end of the research. After the treatment, general achievement in CAT increased in favor of experimental groups. Instructional software programs also had the positive effect to the awareness of students' understandings to the general functions of mitosis and meiosis. However, the current study revealed that there were still some misconceptions in the experimental groups even after the treatment. It was also noticed that only using edutainment software program significantly changed students' attitudes towards biology.

Students’ mental model on heat convection concept and its relation with students conception on heat and temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amalia, R.; Sari, I. M.; Sinaga, P.

2017-02-01

This research depended by previous studies that only to find out the misconceptions of students without figuring out the mechanism of the misconceptions. The mechanism of misconceptions can be studied more deeply with mental models. The purpose of this study was to find students ‘mental models of heat convection and its relation with students conception on heat and temperature. The method used in this study is exploratory mixed method design that implemented in one of the high schools in Bandung. The results showed that 7 mental models of heat convection in Chiou’s study (2013), only first model (diffusion-based convention), third model (evenly distributed convection) and fifth model (warmness topped convection II) were found and model hybrid convection as a new mental model. In addition, no specific relationship between mental models and categories of students’ conceptions on heat and temperature.

Student’s mental model, misconceptions, troublesome knowledge, and threshold concept on thermochemistry with DToM-POE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiji, W.; Mulyani, S.

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study is to obtain a profile of students' mental models, misconceptions, troublesome knowledge, and threshold concept on thermochemistry. The subjects in this study were 35 students. The method used in this research was descriptive method with instruments Diagnostic Test of Mental Model - Prediction, Observation, and Explanation (DToM-POE). The results showed that the students' ability to predict, observe, and explain ΔH of neutralization reaction of NaOH with HCl was still lacking. Most students tended to memorize chemical concepts related to symbolic level and they did not understand the meaning of the symbols used. Furthermore, most students were unable to connect the results of observations at the macroscopic level with the symbolic level to determine ΔH of neutralization reaction of NaOH with HCl. Then, most students tended to give an explanation by a net ionic equation or a chemical reaction equation at the symbolic level when explaining ΔH of neutralization reaction at the submicroscopic level. In addition, there are seven misconceptions, three troublesome knowledges, and three threshold concepts held by students on thermochemistry.

Developing and validating a chemical bonding instrument for Korean high school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, Nak Han

The major purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument designed to collect and investigate on Korean high school students' understanding about concepts regarding chemical bonding. The Chemical Bonding Diagnostic Test (CBDT) was developed by the procedure by previously relevant researches (Treagust, 1985; Peterson, 1986; Tan, 1994). The final instrument consisted of 15 two-tier items. The reliability coefficient (Cronbach alpha) for the whole test was 0.74. Also, the range of values for the discrimination index was from 0.38 to 0.90 and the overall average difficulty index was 0.38. The test was administered to 716 science declared students in Korean high school. The 37 common misconceptions on chemical bonding were identified through analysis of the items from the CBDT. The grade 11 students had slightly more misconceptions than the grade 12 students for ionic bonding, covalent bonding, and hydrogen bonding while the grade 12 students had more misconceptions about octet rule and hydrogen bonding than the grade 11 students. From the analysis of ANCOVA, there was no significant difference in grades, and between grade levels and gender on the mean score of CBDT. However, there was a significant difference in gender and a significant interaction between grade levels and chemistry preference. In conclusion, Korean high school students had the most common misconception about the electron configuration on ionic bonding and the water density on hydrogen bonding. Korean students' understanding about the chemical bonding was dependent on the interaction between grade levels and the chemistry preference. Consequently, grade 12 chemistry-preferred students had the highest mean scores among student groups concerned by this study.

Strategies for Teaching Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, J.

2000-12-01

No matter whether you are teaching school children, undergraduates, or colleagues, a few key strategies are always useful. I will present and give examples for the following five key strategies for teaching astronomy. 1. Provide a Contextual Framework: It is much easier to learn new facts or concepts if they can be ``binned" into some kind of pre-existing mental framework. Unless your listeners are already familiar with the basic ideas of modern astronomy (such as the hierarchy of structure in the universe, the scale of the universe, and the origin of the universe), you must provide this before going into the details of how we've developed this modern picture through history. 2. Create Conditions for Conceptual Change: Many people hold misconceptions about astronomical ideas. Therefore we cannot teach them the correct ideas unless we first help them unlearn their prior misconceptions. 3. Make the Material Relevant: It's human nature to be more interested in subjects that seem relevant to our lives. Therefore we must always show students the many connections between astronomy and their personal concerns, such as emphasizing how we are ``star stuff" (in the words of Carl Sagan), how studying other planets helps us understand our own, and so on. 4. Limit Use of Jargon: The number of new terms in many introductory astronomy books is larger than the number of words taught in many first courses in foreign language. This means the books are essentially teaching astronomy in a foreign language, which is a clear recipe for failure. We must find ways to replace jargon with plain language. 5. Challenge Your Students: Don't dumb your teaching down; by and large, students will rise to meet your expectations, as long as you follow the other strategies and practice good teaching.

Identification of Conceptual Understanding in Biotechnology Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suryanti, E.; Fitriani, A.; Redjeki, S.; Riandi, R.

2018-04-01

Research on the identification of conceptual understanding in the learning of Biotechnology, especially on the concept of Genetic Engineering has been done. The lesson is carried out by means of discussion and presentation mediated-powerpoint media that contains learning materials with relevant images and videos. This research is a qualitative research with one-shot case study or one-group posttest-only design. Analysis of 44 students' answers show that only 22% of students understand the concept, 18% of students lack understanding of concepts, 57% of students have misconceptions, and 3% of students are error. It can be concluded that most students has misconceptions in learning the concept of Genetic Engineering.

Analysis of Errors and Misconceptions in the Learning of Calculus by Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muzangwa, Jonatan; Chifamba, Peter

2012-01-01

This paper is going to analyse errors and misconceptions in an undergraduate course in Calculus. The study will be based on a group of 10 BEd. Mathematics students at Great Zimbabwe University. Data is gathered through use of two exercises on Calculus 1&2.The analysis of the results from the tests showed that a majority of the errors were due…

The Effect of Group Work on Misconceptions of 9th Grade Students about Newton's Laws

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ergin, Serap

2016-01-01

In this study, the effect of group work and traditional method on 9th grade students' misconceptions about Newton Laws was investigated. The study was conducted in three classes in an Anatolian Vocational High School in Ankara/Turkey in the second term of the 2014-2015 academic year. Two of these classes were chosen as the experimental group and…

Earth Science Misconceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Philips, William C.

1991-01-01

Presented is a list of over 50 commonly held misconceptions based on a literature review found in students and adults. The list covers earth science topics such as space, the lithosphere, the biosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the cryosphere. (KR)

Student Misconceptions About Astronomy and the Best Order of Teaching Astronomical Concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favia, Andrej; Comins, N. F.; Thorpe, G.

2013-01-01

My (Andrej Favia) Ph.D. thesis involves quantifying the "difficulty" of unlearning common astronomy misconceptions. I do this by applying factor analysis and Item Response Theory (IRT) to a retrospective inventory of when, or if, college students dispelled the misconceptions under consideration. Our inventory covers 235 misconceptions identified over the span of 10 years of teaching the college astronomy lecture course at the Universe of Maine by NFC. The analysis yields logical groupings of topics (e.g., teach one planet at a time rather than use comparative planetology) and the "order of difficulty" of the associated topics. We have results for about one fourth of the inventory, and our results show that there are concepts of different difficulties, which suggest that they should be presented in different orders. We also find that the order of teaching concepts is sometimes different for high school and college level courses.

Can an Interactive Learning Path on a Tablet PC Counter Misconceptions on the Formation of Clouds and Wind?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steegen, An; Hasendonckx, Femke; De Cock, Mieke

2018-01-01

It is well-known that misconceptions exist on a range of topics. The origin of these misconceptions can be very different, but some of them can be understood by students struggling with the application of physics concepts in real life situations or in the context of another school subject, e.g. geography. In this paper, different strategies to…

A New Way to Teach Introductory Electricity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinberg, Melvin S.

1988-01-01

Cites the misconceptions that students beginning the study of electric circuits often have about electricity. Explains the use of capacitors with circuits of batteries and light bulbs to introduce electrostatic forces and help to alleviate the problem of misconceptions. (RT)

Assessing cultural validity in standardized tests in stem education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gassant, Lunes

This quantitative ex post facto study examined how race and gender, as elements of culture, influence the development of common misconceptions among STEM students. Primary data came from a standardized test: the Digital Logic Concept Inventory (DLCI) developed by Drs. Geoffrey L. Herman, Michael C. Louis, and Craig Zilles from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The sample consisted of a cohort of 82 STEM students recruited from three universities in Northern Louisiana. Microsoft Excel and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were used for data computation. Two key concepts, several sub concepts, and 19 misconceptions were tested through 11 items in the DLCI. Statistical analyses based on both the Classical Test Theory (Spearman, 1904) and the Item Response Theory (Lord, 1952) yielded similar results: some misconceptions in the DLCI can reliably be predicted by the Race or the Gender of the test taker. The research is significant because it has shown that some misconceptions in a STEM discipline attracted students with similar ethnic backgrounds differently; thus, leading to the existence of some cultural bias in the standardized test. Therefore the study encourages further research in cultural validity in standardized tests. With culturally valid tests, it will be possible to increase the effectiveness of targeted teaching and learning strategies for STEM students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. To some extent, this dissertation has contributed to understanding, better, the gap between high enrollment rates and low graduation rates among African American students and also among other minority students in STEM disciplines.

The Retention of Geologic Misconceptions: Alternative Ideas That Persist After Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wandersee, J. H.; Clary, R. M.; Anderson, S. W.; Libarkin, J.

2003-12-01

We used a 30 item multiple-choice instrument called the geoscience concept test (GCT) to study learning in introductory college-level science courses. The GCT uses common misconceptions as wrong answers, and allows us to pre- and post-test individual courses to gauge the effectiveness of instruction. The GCT was given at the beginning of the semester to 2215 college students in 42 classes at 32 different institutions in 19 different states (21 public and 6 private four-year institutions, 4 community colleges, and one tribal college). The pilot was also given to 1907 students as a semester-end post-test in 30 different classes. We were able to match pre- and post-test results for 967 students through an analysis of volunteered personal and demographic data. Although statistical analysis shows that learning occurred in all classes, closer inspection of the data show that the student population retained a number of misconceptions. Students retained several incorrect ideas relating to geologic time despite instruction. For example, 71% of post-tested students believe that the study of fossils, rock layers, or carbon is the most accurate means for calculating the age of the Earth. Nearly 25% of students believed that dinosaurs only existed on Earth for 500,000 years, and 40% believe dinosaurs came into existence about halfway through the geologic time scale. Many alternative ideas about plate tectonics and the formation of rocks also existed after instruction. Nearly half of the post-tested students (47%) believed that tectonic plates do not extend all way to the surface of the Earth, and 65% did not believe that animals could form oceanic rocks. Identification of strongly held misconceptions in a post-tested student population provides instructors with information that could impact the way they present material to their introductory classes.

The Electron Runaround: Understanding Electric Circuit Basics Through a Classroom Activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Vandana

2010-05-01

Several misconceptions abound among college students taking their first general physics course, and to some extent pre-engineering physics students, regarding the physics and applications of electric circuits. Analogies used in textbooks, such as those that liken an electric circuit to a piped closed loop of water driven by a water pump, do not completely resolve these misconceptions. Mazur and Knight,2 in particular, separately note that such misconceptions include the notion that electric current on either side of a light bulb in a circuit can be different. Other difficulties and confusions involve understanding why the current in a parallel circuit exceeds the current in a series circuit with the same components, and include the role of the battery (where students may assume wrongly that a dry cell battery is a fixed-current rather than a fixed-voltage device). A simple classroom activity that students can play as a game can resolve these misconceptions, providing an intellectual as well as a hands-on understanding. This paper describes the "Electron Runaround," first developed by the author to teach extremely bright 8-year-old home-schooled children the basics of electric circuits and subsequently altered (according to the required level of instruction) and used for various college physics courses.

Science and creationism: a response to Kenneth Tobin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexakos, Konstantinos

2009-06-01

In his December editorial on Michael Reiss, Kenneth Tobin (Cult Stud Sci Educ 3:793-798, 2008), raises some very important questions for science and science teachers regarding science education and the teaching of creationism in the classroom. I agree with him that students' creationist ideologies should be treated not as misconceptions but as worldviews. Because of creationism's peculiarly strong political links though, I argue that such discussion must address three critical and interconnected issues, including the uncertain state of teaching evolution in public schools nationally, the political convergence of the creationist political beliefs with bigoted worldviews, and creationism's inherent contrariness to science and human progress. I suggest that we as science educators therefore not consider all sides to be equally right and to instead take side against the politics of creationism. I also argue that we need much more serious discussion on how to better teach science to students who hold creationist worldviews, and that science educators such as Reiss need to be part of that.

Fitness: A Lifestyle Value.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hennyey, Donna J.

1985-01-01

Factors contributing to the evolution of fitness are discussed, and some of the challenges these hold for those in the fields of food and nutrition are identified. This includes a discussion of basic concepts of nutrition and exercise, misconceptions of nutrition and exercise, and fitness instructors as nutrition educators. (Author/CT)

Pennsylvania Dutch Crafts and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Dianne

2008-01-01

Many people hold two common misconceptions about the Pennsylvania Dutch: first, that these people live exclusively in the state of Pennsylvania; second, that their ancestors came from Holland. However, neither assumption is correct. One can find large Pennsylvania Dutch communities in Mary land, West Virginia, Virginia, the Carolinas, Ohio,…

Relations between Intuitive Biological Thinking and Biological Misconceptions in Biology Majors and Nonmajors

PubMed Central

Coley, John D.; Tanner, Kimberly

2015-01-01

Research and theory development in cognitive psychology and science education research remain largely isolated. Biology education researchers have documented persistent scientifically inaccurate ideas, often termed misconceptions, among biology students across biological domains. In parallel, cognitive and developmental psychologists have described intuitive conceptual systems—teleological, essentialist, and anthropocentric thinking—that humans use to reason about biology. We hypothesize that seemingly unrelated biological misconceptions may have common origins in these intuitive ways of knowing, termed cognitive construals. We presented 137 undergraduate biology majors and nonmajors with six biological misconceptions. They indicated their agreement with each statement, and explained their rationale for their response. Results indicate frequent agreement with misconceptions, and frequent use of construal-based reasoning among both biology majors and nonmajors in their written explanations. Moreover, results also show associations between specific construals and the misconceptions hypothesized to arise from those construals. Strikingly, such associations were stronger among biology majors than nonmajors. These results demonstrate important linkages between intuitive ways of thinking and misconceptions in discipline-based reasoning, and raise questions about the origins, persistence, and generality of relations between intuitive reasoning and biological misconceptions. PMID:25713093

Integrating Gender and Group Differences into Bridging Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yılmaz, Serkan; Eryılmaz, Ali

2010-08-01

The main goal of this study was to integrate gender and group effect into bridging strategy in order to assess the effect of bridging analogy-based instruction on sophomore students' misconceptions in Newton's Third Law. Specifically, the authors developed and benefited from anchoring analogy diagnostic test to merge the effect of group and gender into the strategy. Newton's third law misconception test, attitude scale toward Newton's third law, and classroom observation checklists were the other measuring tools utilized throughout this quasi-experimental study. The researchers also developed or used several teaching/learning materials such as gender and group splitted concept diagrams, lesson plans, gender splitted frequency tables, make sense scales, PowerPoint slides, flash cards, and demonstrations. The convenience sample of the study chosen from the accessible population involved 308 students from two public universities. The results of multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that the bridging strategy had a significant effect on students' misconceptions in Newton's third law whereas it had no significant effect on students' attitudes toward Newton's third law.

Creationism as a Misconception: Socio-cognitive conflict in the teaching of evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, Colin

2012-09-01

This position paper argues that students' understanding and acceptance of evolution may be supported, rather than hindered, by classroom discussion of creationism. Parallels are drawn between creationism and other scientific misconceptions, both of the scientific community in the past and of students in the present. Science teachers frequently handle their students' misconceptions as they arise by offering appropriate socio-cognitive conflict, which highlights reasons to disbelieve one idea and to believe another. It is argued that this way of working, rather than outlawing discussion, is more scientific and more honest. Scientific truth does not win the day by attempting to deny its opponents a voice but by engaging them with evidence. Teachers can be confident that evolution has nothing to fear from a free and frank discussion in which claims can be rebutted with evidence. Such an approach is accessible to children of all ages and is ultimately more likely to drive out pre-scientific superstitions. It also models the scientific process more authentically and develops students' ability to think critically.

Students' Misconceptions about Random Variables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kachapova, Farida; Kachapov, Ilias

2012-01-01

This article describes some misconceptions about random variables and related counter-examples, and makes suggestions about teaching initial topics on random variables in general form instead of doing it separately for discrete and continuous cases. The focus is on post-calculus probability courses. (Contains 2 figures.)

Relations between Intuitive Biological Thinking and Biological Misconceptions in Biology Majors and Nonmajors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coley, John D.; Tanner, Kimberly

2015-01-01

Research and theory development in cognitive psychology and science education research remain largely isolated. Biology education researchers have documented persistent scientifically inaccurate ideas, often termed "misconceptions," among biology students across biological domains. In parallel, cognitive and developmental psychologists…

Biology Myth-Killers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lampert, Evan

2014-01-01

"Biology Myth-Killers" is an activity designed to identify and correct common misconceptions for high school and college introductory biology courses. Students identify common myths, which double as biology misconceptions, and use appropriate sources to share the "truth" about the myths. This learner-centered activity is a fun…

Sports Nutrition for Young Athletes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotugna, Nancy; Vickery, Connie E.; McBee, Sheldon

2005-01-01

Nutritional needs for peak athletic performance include sufficient calorie intake, adequate hydration, and attention to timing of meals. Student athletes and their advisors often are misinformed or have misconceptions about sports nutrition. This paper identifies nutritional needs of young athletes, reviews common misconceptions, and examines the…

Genesis & the Human Ribcage: An Opportunity to Correct a Misconception & Introduce an Evolution Lesson into the Anatomy Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Senter, Phil

2013-01-01

Many anatomy students begin the course with a misconception that human males and females do not have the same number of ribs. At the root of that misconception is Genesis 2:21-22, in which God removes a rib from Adam to make Eve. Removal of a body part is a surgical procedure, and one does not pass on the results of surgery to one's offspring. The…

Comments and Criticism: Comment on "Identification of Student Misconceptions in Genetics Problem Solving via Computer Program."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Mike U.

1991-01-01

Criticizes an article by Browning and Lehman (1988) for (1) using "gene" instead of allele, (2) misusing the word "misconception," and (3) the possible influences of the computer environment on the results of the study. (PR)

Misconceptions Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Mary J.; Kalinowski, Steven T.; Andrews, Tessa C.

2014-01-01

A recent essay in "CBE-Life Sciences Education" criticized biology education researchers' use of the term "misconceptions" and recommended that, in order to be up-to-date with education research, biology education researchers should use alternative terms for students' incorrect ideas in science. We counter that…

Is it the Earth that turns or the Sun that goes behind the mountains? Students' misconceptions about the day/night cycle after reading a science text

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vosniadou, Stella; Skopeliti, Irini

2017-10-01

The present research tested the hypothesis that the reading of science text can create new misconceptions in students with incongruent prior knowledge, and that these new misconceptions will be similar to the fragmented and synthetic conceptions obtained in prior developmental research. Ninety-nine third- and fifth-grade children read and recalled one of two texts that provided scientific or phenomenal explanations of the day/night cycle. All the participants gave explanations of the phenomenon in question prior to reading one of the texts and after they read it. The results showed that the participants who provided explanations of the day/night cycle at pretest incongruent with the scientific explanation recalled less information and generated more invalid inferences. An analysis of the participants' posttest explanations indicated that these readers formed new misconceptions similar to the fragmented and synthetic conceptions obtained in developmental research. The implications of the above for text comprehension and science education research are discussed.

Development of Two-Tier Diagnostic Test Pictorial-Based for Identifying High School Students Misconceptions on the Mole Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siswaningsih, W.; Firman, H.; Zackiyah; Khoirunnisa, A.

2017-02-01

The aim of this study was to develop the two-tier pictorial-based diagnostic test for identifying student misconceptions on mole concept. The method of this study is used development and validation. The development of the test Obtained through four phases, development of any items, validation, determination key, and application test. Test was developed in the form of pictorial consisting of two tier, the first tier Consist of four possible answers and the second tier Consist of four possible reasons. Based on the results of content validity of 20 items using the CVR (Content Validity Ratio), a number of 18 items declared valid. Based on the results of the reliability test using SPSS, Obtained 17 items with Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0703, the which means that items have accepted. A total of 10 items was conducted to 35 students of senior high school students who have studied the mole concept on one of the high schools in Cimahi. Based on the results of the application test, student misconceptions were identified in each label concept in mole concept with the percentage of misconceptions on the label concept of mole (60.15%), Avogadro’s number (34.28%), relative atomic mass (62, 84%), relative molecule mass (77.08%), molar mass (68.53%), molar volume of gas (57.11%), molarity (71.32%), chemical equation (82.77%), limiting reactants (91.40%), and molecular formula (77.13%).

Teaching Tree-Thinking to Undergraduate Biology Students.

PubMed

Meisel, Richard P

2010-07-27

Evolution is the unifying principle of all biology, and understanding how evolutionary relationships are represented is critical for a complete understanding of evolution. Phylogenetic trees are the most conventional tool for displaying evolutionary relationships, and "tree-thinking" has been coined as a term to describe the ability to conceptualize evolutionary relationships. Students often lack tree-thinking skills, and developing those skills should be a priority of biology curricula. Many common student misconceptions have been described, and a successful instructor needs a suite of tools for correcting those misconceptions. I review the literature on teaching tree-thinking to undergraduate students and suggest how this material can be presented within an inquiry-based framework.

Glucose as the Sole Metabolic Fuel: A Study on the Possible Influence of Teachers' Knowledge on the Establishment of a Misconception among Brazilian High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

da Luz, Mauricio Roberto Motta Pinto

2008-01-01

In the present work, I investigated the origin of the misconception that glucose is the sole metabolic fuel previously described among Brazilian high school students. The results of a multiple-choice test composed of 24 questions about a broad range of biology subjects were analyzed. The test was part of a contest and was answered by a sample…

Genetics - Are There Inherent Learning Difficulties?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longden, Bernard

1982-01-01

Sources of misconceptions and learning difficulties were identified by interviewing academically sound A-level students (N=10) who were having difficulties with genetics. Indicates misconceptions were related to nature of concepts used in genetics, such as frequent representation of meiosis by fixed inanimate stage diagrams and to instructional…

Fire and Ecological Disturbance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dentzau, Michael; Sampson, Victor

2011-01-01

Misconceptions are not simply factual errors or a lack of understanding, but rather explanations that are constructed based on past experiences (Hewson and Hewson 1988). If students' misconceptions are not directly engaged in the learning process, they may persist--even when faced with instruction to the contrary (Bransford, Brown, and Cocking…

Patterns of thinking about phylogenetic trees: A study of student learning and the potential of tree thinking to improve comprehension of biological concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naegle, Erin

Evolution education is a critical yet challenging component of teaching and learning biology. There is frequently an emphasis on natural selection when teaching about evolution and conducting educational research. A full understanding of evolution, however, integrates evolutionary processes, such as natural selection, with the resulting evolutionary patterns, such as species divergence. Phylogenetic trees are models of evolutionary patterns. The perspective gained from understanding biology through phylogenetic analyses is referred to as tree thinking. Due to the increasing prevalence of tree thinking in biology, understanding how to read phylogenetic trees is an important skill for students to learn. Interpreting graphics is not an intuitive process, as graphical representations are semiotic objects. This is certainly true concerning phylogenetic tree interpretation. Previous research and anecdotal evidence report that students struggle to correctly interpret trees. The objective of this research was to describe and investigate the rationale underpinning the prior knowledge of introductory biology students' tree thinking Understanding prior knowledge is valuable as prior knowledge influences future learning. In Chapter 1, qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews were used to explore patterns of student rationale in regard to tree thinking. Seven common tree thinking misconceptions are described: (1) Equating the degree of trait similarity with the extent of relatedness, (2) Environmental change is a necessary prerequisite to evolution, (3) Essentialism of species, (4) Evolution is inherently progressive, (5) Evolution is a linear process, (6) Not all species are related, and (7) Trees portray evolution through the hybridization of species. These misconceptions are based in students' incomplete or incorrect understanding of evolution. These misconceptions are often reinforced by the misapplication of cultural conventions to make sense of trees. Chapter 2 explores the construction, validity, and reliability of a tree thinking concept inventory. Concept inventories are research based instruments that diagnose faulty reasoning among students. Such inventories are tools for improving teaching and learning of concepts. Test scores indicate that tree thinking misconceptions are held by novice and intermediate biology students. Finally, Chapter 3 presents a tree thinking rubric. The rubric aids teachers in selecting and improving introductory tree thinking learning exercises that address students' tree thinking misconceptions.

Effects of Text Structure, Reading Goals and Epistemic Beliefs on Conceptual Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trevors, Gregory; Muis, Krista R.

2015-01-01

We investigated the online and offline effects of learner and instructional characteristics on conceptual change of a robust misconception in science. Fifty-nine undergraduate university students with misconceptions about evolution were identified as espousing evaluativist or non-evaluativist epistemic beliefs in science. Participants were…

Organic Chemistry Educators' Perspectives on Fundamental Concepts and Misconceptions: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duis, Jennifer M.

2011-01-01

An exploratory study was conducted with 23 organic chemistry educators to discover what general chemistry concepts they typically review, the concepts they believe are fundamental to introductory organic chemistry, the topics students find most difficult in the subject, and the misconceptions they observe in undergraduate organic chemistry…

Using Structured Examples and Prompting Reflective Questions to Correct Misconceptions about Thermodynamic Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olakanmi, E. O.; Doyoyo, M.

2014-01-01

This paper explores the effectiveness of using "structured examples in concert with prompting reflective questions" to address misconceptions held by mechanical engineering students about thermodynamic principles by employing pre-test and post-test design, a structured questionnaire, lecture room observation, and participants'…

An Inventory on Rotational Kinematics of a Particle: Unravelling Misconceptions and Pitfalls in Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mashood, K. K.; Singh, Vijay A.

2012-01-01

Student difficulties regarding the angular velocity ([image omitted]) and angular acceleration ([image omitted]) of a particle have remained relatively unexplored in contrast to their linear counterparts. We present an inventory comprising multiple choice questions aimed at probing misconceptions and eliciting ill-suited reasoning patterns. The…

Challenging Cognitive Construals: A Dynamic Alternative to Stable Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gouvea, Julia S.; Simon, Matt R.

2018-01-01

In biology education research, it has been common to model cognition in terms of relatively stable knowledge structures (e.g., mental models, alternative frameworks, deeply held misconceptions). For example, John D. Coley and Kimberley D. Tanner recently proposed that many student difficulties in biology stem from underlying cognitive frameworks…

Nonsense, Sense and Science: Misconceptions and Illustrated Trade Books.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Caroline V.

2003-01-01

Examines the author's discovery of elementary students' science misconceptions derived from the books she chose to share as read-alouds. Identifies three intertwining elements that might have led intelligent, curious young learners to create impossible science from these read-aloud sessions. Uses these three elements to organize personal…

Graphing Misconceptions and Possible Remedies Using Microcomputer-Based Labs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barclay, William L.

Graphing is a common and powerful symbol system for representing concrete data. Yet research has shown that students often have graphical misconceptions about how graphs are related to the concrete event. Currently, the Technical Education Research Center (TERC) is developing microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL) science units that use probes to…

Developing computer-based training programs for basic mammalian histology: Didactic versus discovery-based design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fabian, Henry Joel

Educators have long tried to understand what stimulates students to learn. The Swiss psychologist and zoologist, Jean Claude Piaget, suggested that students are stimulated to learn when they attempt to resolve confusion. He reasoned that students try to explain the world with the knowledge they have acquired in life. When they find their own explanations to be inadequate to explain phenomena, students find themselves in a temporary state of confusion. This prompts students to seek more plausible explanations. At this point, students are primed for learning (Piaget 1964). The Piagetian approach described above is called learning by discovery. To promote discovery learning, a teacher must first allow the student to recognize his misconception and then provide a plausible explanation to replace that misconception (Chinn and Brewer 1993). One application of this method is found in the various learning cycles, which have been demonstrated to be effective means for teaching science (Renner and Lawson 1973, Lawson 1986, Marek and Methven 1991, and Glasson & Lalik 1993). In contrast to the learning cycle, tutorial computer programs are generally not designed to correct student misconceptions, but rather follow a passive, didactic method of teaching. In the didactic or expositional method, the student is told about a phenomenon, but is neither encouraged to explore it, nor explain it in his own terms (Schneider and Renner 1980).

Misconceptions of positivism and five unnecessary science theoretic mistakes they bring in their train.

PubMed

Persson, Johannes

2010-05-01

Positivism is sometimes rejected for the wrong reasons. Influential textbooks on nursing research and in other disciplines tend to reinforce the misconceptions underlying these rejections. This is problematic, since it provides students of these disciplines with a poor basis for reflecting on epistemological and methodological perspectives. It is particularly common for positivist views on reality and causation to be obscured. The first part of this discussion paper identifies and explains the misconceptions about positivism as they appear in two influential textbooks. The second part pinpoints five mistakes these misconceptions easily result in when the researcher adopts an epistemological and methodological standpoint. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Misconceptions Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

PubMed Central

Kalinowski, Steven T.; Andrews, Tessa C.

2014-01-01

A recent essay in CBE—Life Sciences Education criticized biology education researchers’ use of the term misconceptions and recommended that, in order to be up-to-date with education research, biology education researchers should use alternative terms for students’ incorrect ideas in science. We counter that criticism by reviewing the continued use and the meaning of misconceptions in education research today, and describe two key debates that account for the controversy surrounding the term. We then identify and describe two areas of research that have real implications for tomorrow's biology education research and biology instruction: 1) hypotheses about the structure of student knowledge (coherent vs. fragmented) that gives rise to misconceptions; and 2) the “warming trend” that considers the effects of students’ motivation, beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning (their epistemic beliefs), and learning strategies (their cognitive and metacognitive skills) on their ability to change their misconceptions in science. We conclude with a description of proposed future work in biology education research related to misconceptions. PMID:26086651

Evidence of The Importance of Philosophy of Science Course On Undergraduate Level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suyono

2018-01-01

This study aimed to describe academic impact of Philosophy of Science course in change of students’ conceptions on the Nature of science (NOS) before and after attending the course. This study followed one group pretest-posttest design. Treatment in this study was Philosophy of Science course for one semester. Misconception diagnostic tests of the NOS had been developed by Suyono et al. (2015) equipped with Certainty of Response Index (CRI). It consists of 15 concept questions about the NOS. The number of students who were tested on Chemistry Education Program (CEP) and Chemistry Program (CP) respectively 42 and 45 students. This study shows that after the learning of Philosophy of Science course happened: (1) the decrease of the number of misconception students on the NOS from 47.47 to 19.20% in CEP and from 47.47 to 18.18% in CP and (2) the decrease in the number of concepts that understood as misconception by the large number of students from 11 to 2 concepts on the CEP and from 10 to 2 concepts on CP. Therefore, the existence of Philosophy of Science course has a positive academic impact on students from both programs on undergraduate level.

Teaching Tree-Thinking to Undergraduate Biology Students

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Evolution is the unifying principle of all biology, and understanding how evolutionary relationships are represented is critical for a complete understanding of evolution. Phylogenetic trees are the most conventional tool for displaying evolutionary relationships, and “tree-thinking” has been coined as a term to describe the ability to conceptualize evolutionary relationships. Students often lack tree-thinking skills, and developing those skills should be a priority of biology curricula. Many common student misconceptions have been described, and a successful instructor needs a suite of tools for correcting those misconceptions. I review the literature on teaching tree-thinking to undergraduate students and suggest how this material can be presented within an inquiry-based framework. PMID:21572571

Perceptions of secondary technical schools students in Assiut, upper Egypt, about AIDS: Effect of an educational intervention.

PubMed

Selim, Mohei El-Din A; El-Shereef, Etemad A A

2010-01-01

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a great threat to the youth. The aim is to assess the knowledge of secondary technical schools students on AIDS, identify related misconceptions, and measure the effect of a short health education program on their level of knowledge. This quasi-experimental study was done on 575 secondary technical schools students in Assiut City, recruited through a two-stage stratified cluster sampling. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was used to collect data. A health education program was implemented, and its effect assessed through pre-post testing. The age range of the students was 16 to 20 years, with more girls (57.0%). Only 30.8% had satisfactory knowledge about AIDS in the pretest. Statistically significant improvements in knowledge were revealed after program implementation (P<0.001). Students who were Muslim, of urban residence, and had mobile phones had significantly higher scores (P=0.037, 0.004, 0.038 respectively). The most common misconceptions were the definition of AIDS according to transmission, and phobias related to transmission, which decreased after the intervention. Multivariate analysis showed that the statistically significant independent predictors of the change in knowledge score after the intervention were age, religion and the health education program. Secondary technical schools students in Assiut city have a major deficiency in knowledge and many misconceptions regarding AIDS. The educational intervention had a positive impact on their knowledge, but a less marked effect on misconceptions. Knowledge was affected by age and religious belief. It is recommended that more health educational efforts tailored to needs and with approaches suitable to community cultures and values be introduced.

Analysis of Students' Conceptions of Basic Magnetism from a Complex Systems Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemmer, Miriam; Kriek, Jeanne; Erasmus, Benita

2018-03-01

This study established whether 12 South African secondary school physics students had incorrect conceptions of basic magnetism and if they had, to what extent they consistently applied such conceptions. Different scenarios in the form of thought experiments were presented in a clinical interview approach. A complex systems perspective underpinned the study and was firstly used to analyze 12 students' conceptions in terms of intuitive fragments of knowledge elements, structured misconceptions, and theory-like system of knowledge elements. Secondly, coherence in each student's ideas expressed across ten themes using thought experiments was analyzed in an effort to determine variations or coherence in responses. Examples of student explanations and sketches are discussed in the paper to illustrate the conceptual structures they applied. Most of the students in this study used a variety of knowledge elements in accord with a complex systems perspective, but three students seemed to prefer a specific perspective. One student's ideas tended to be mainly fragmented, a second exposed a number of structured misconceptions, while another student's reasoning can be described as a theory-like system of knowledge elements. Accordingly, the emphasis of physics education research should no longer be on the compilation of a list of misconceptions that have to be remedied or replaced, but on the conceptual connections, students make and their associative reasoning patterns (i.e., knowledge systems revealed). It remains for the teacher to use the complex systems perspective as a framework to facilitate students' conceptual development and understanding, proceeding on their existing knowledge systems.

A structural equation modeling analysis of students' understanding in basic mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oktavia, Rini; Arif, Salmawaty; Ferdhiana, Ridha; Yuni, Syarifah Meurah; Ihsan, Mahyus

2017-11-01

This research, in general, aims to identify incoming students' understanding and misconceptions of several basic concepts in mathematics. The participants of this study are the 2015 incoming students of Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science of Syiah Kuala University, Indonesia. Using an instrument that were developed based on some anecdotal and empirical evidences on students' misconceptions, a survey involving 325 participants was administered and several quantitative and qualitative analysis of the survey data were conducted. In this article, we discuss the confirmatory factor analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) on factors that determine the new students' overall understanding of basic mathematics. The results showed that students' understanding on algebra, arithmetic, and geometry were significant predictors for their overall understanding of basic mathematics. This result supported that arithmetic and algebra are not the only predictors of students' understanding of basic mathematics.

Using Analogies to Prevent Misconceptions about Chemical Equilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahin Pekmez, Esin

2010-01-01

The main purpose of this study was to find the effectiveness of using analogies to prevent misconceptions about chemical equilibrium. Nineteen analogies, which were based on dynamic aspects of chemical equilibrium and application of Le Chatelier's principle, were developed. The participations of this study consisted of 11th grade students (n: 151)…

Reconsidering Learning Difficulties and Misconceptions in Chemistry: Emergence in Chemistry and Its Implications for Chemical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tümay, Halil

2016-01-01

Identifying students' misconceptions and learning difficulties and finding effective ways of addressing them has been one of the major concerns in chemistry education. However, the chemistry education community has paid little attention to determining discipline-specific aspects of chemistry that can lead to learning difficulties and…

An Analogy-Based Computer Tutor for Remediating Physics Misconceptions. Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Tom; And Others

This paper evaluates the strengths and limitations of a computer tutor designed to help students understand physics concepts. The tutor uses a teaching strategy called "bridging analogies" that previous research has demonstrated to be successful in one-to-one tutoring. The strategy is designed to remedy misconceptions by appealing to existing…

What Is Transmitted in "Synaptic Transmission"?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montagna, Erik; de Azevedo, Adriana M. S.; Romano, Camilla; Ranvaud, Ronald

2010-01-01

Even students that obtain a high grade in neurophysiology often carry away a serious misconception concerning the final result of the complex set of events that follows the arrival of an action potential at the presynaptic terminal. The misconception consists in considering that "at a synapse, information is passed on from one neuron to the next"…

The Effects and Side-Effects of Statistics Education: Psychology Students' (Mis-)Conceptions of Probability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morsanyi, Kinga; Primi, Caterina; Chiesi, Francesca; Handley, Simon

2009-01-01

In three studies we looked at two typical misconceptions of probability: the representativeness heuristic, and the equiprobability bias. The literature on statistics education predicts that some typical errors and biases (e.g., the equiprobability bias) increase with education, whereas others decrease. This is in contrast with reasoning theorists'…

Technology Rich Biology Labs: Effects of Misconceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuech, Robert; Zogg, Gregory; Zeeman, Stephan; Johnson, Mark

This paper describes a study conducted on the lab sections of the general biology course for non-science majors at the University of New England, and reports findings of student misconceptions about photosynthesis and the mass/carbon uptake during plant growth. The current study placed high technology analytic tools in the hands of introductory…

Effect of Cabri-Assisted Instruction on Secondary School Students' Misconceptions about Graphs of Quadratic Functions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koklu, Oguz; Topcu, Abdullah

2012-01-01

Pre-existing misconceptions are serious impediments to learning in mathematics. Means for detecting and correcting them have received much attention in the literature of educational research. Dynamic geometry software has been tried at different grade levels. This quasi-experimental study investigates the effect of Cabri-assisted instruction on…

Mental Models Research to Inform Community Outreach for a Campus Recycling Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Lauren; Arvai, Joseph; Thorp, Laurie

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of the state of knowledge of students and faculty on the Michigan State University (MSU) campus; identify relevant gaps in knowledge and misconceptions about recycling; and provide recommendations regarding how these gaps and misconceptions may be addressed through education…

Using Analogy to Overcome Misconceptions about Conservation of Matter.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stavy, Ruth

1991-01-01

This study (n=192) examined the use of analogical instruction to overcome misconceptions about conservation of matter. Students who understood the concept conservation of matter when iodine was evaporated were able to transfer their understanding to the evaporation of acetone. This indicates that teaching by analogy can be an effective tool in…

Sea Turtles and Strategies for Language Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tippins, Deborah; And Others

1993-01-01

Describes teaching strategies, including science activities, for challenging students' misconceptions about turtles and helping limited-English-proficiency students enhance their language proficiency. (PR)

Identification and addressing reduction-related misconceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gal-Ezer, Judith; Trakhtenbrot, Mark

2016-07-01

Reduction is one of the key techniques used for problem-solving in computer science. In particular, in the theory of computation and complexity (TCC), mapping and polynomial reductions are used for analysis of decidability and computational complexity of problems, including the core concept of NP-completeness. Reduction is a highly abstract technique that involves revealing close non-trivial connections between problems that often seem to have nothing in common. As a result, proper understanding and application of reduction is a serious challenge for students and a source of numerous misconceptions. The main contribution of this paper is detection of such misconceptions, analysis of their roots, and proposing a way to address them in an undergraduate TCC course. Our observations suggest that the main source of the misconceptions is the false intuitive rule "the bigger is a set/problem, the harder it is to solve". Accordingly, we developed a series of exercises for proactive prevention of these misconceptions.

Perceptions of eye health in schools in Pakistan

PubMed Central

Ahmad, Khabir; Khan, Mohammad Aman; Khan, Mohammad Daud; Qureshi, Mohammad Babar; Chaudhry, Tanveer Anjum; Gilbert, Clare

2006-01-01

Background Research exploring children's and their teachers' perceptions of eye health is lacking. This paper reports for the first time on perceptions of primary schoolchildren and their teachers of healthy and diseased eyes, things that keep eyes healthy and damage them, and what actions to be taken in case of an eye injury. Methods Using draw and write technique, 160 boys and girls (9–12 years old) attending four primary schools in Abbottabad district, northern Pakistan, were invited to draw pictures in response to a set of semi-structured questions and then label them. Sixteen teachers who were currently teaching the selected students were interviewed one-on-one. Results Analysis of text accompanying 800 drawings and of the interview scripts revealed that most children and teachers perceived healthy eyes to be those which could see well, and diseased eyes to be those which have redness, watering, dirty discharge, pain, and itching; or those which have "weak eyesight" and blindness. Among things that students and teachers thought damage the eyes included sun, television, and sharp pointed objects, particularly pencils. Teachers noted that children with eye problems "have difficulty seeing the blackboard well", "screw up their eyes", and "hold their books too close". Conclusion We conclude that schoolchildren and their teachers had a good knowledge of eye health, but many of them had serious misconceptions e.g., use of kohl, medicines and eye drops keeps eyes healthy. Kohl is an important source of lead and can reduce children's intelligence even at low blood levels. Health education in schools must take into account children's existing knowledge of and misconceptions about various aspects of eye health. Such steps if taken could improve the relevance of eye health education to schoolchildren. PMID:16512897

Perceptions of eye health in schools in Pakistan.

PubMed

Ahmad, Khabir; Khan, Mohammad Aman; Khan, Mohammad Daud; Qureshi, Mohammad Babar; Chaudhry, Tanveer Anjum; Gilbert, Clare

2006-03-02

Research exploring children's and their teachers' perceptions of eye health is lacking. This paper reports for the first time on perceptions of primary schoolchildren and their teachers of healthy and diseased eyes, things that keep eyes healthy and damage them, and what actions to be taken in case of an eye injury. Using draw and write technique, 160 boys and girls (9-12 years old) attending four primary schools in Abbottabad district, northern Pakistan, were invited to draw pictures in response to a set of semi-structured questions and then label them. Sixteen teachers who were currently teaching the selected students were interviewed one-on-one. Analysis of text accompanying 800 drawings and of the interview scripts revealed that most children and teachers perceived healthy eyes to be those which could see well, and diseased eyes to be those which have redness, watering, dirty discharge, pain, and itching; or those which have "weak eyesight" and blindness. Among things that students and teachers thought damage the eyes included sun, television, and sharp pointed objects, particularly pencils. Teachers noted that children with eye problems "have difficulty seeing the blackboard well", "screw up their eyes", and "hold their books too close". We conclude that schoolchildren and their teachers had a good knowledge of eye health, but many of them had serious misconceptions e.g., use of kohl, medicines and eye drops keeps eyes healthy. Kohl is an important source of lead and can reduce children's intelligence even at low blood levels. Health education in schools must take into account children's existing knowledge of and misconceptions about various aspects of eye health. Such steps if taken could improve the relevance of eye health education to schoolchildren.

Medical Student Perception of Plastic Surgery and the Impact of Mainstream Media

PubMed Central

Fraser, S. J.; Al Youha, S.; Rasmussen, P. J.

2017-01-01

Background: Plastic surgery as a discipline is poorly understood by many, including primary care physicians, nurses, medical students, and the public. These misconceptions affect the specialty in a number of ways, including referral patterns and recruitment of medical students into residency programs. The reason for these commonly held misconceptions has not yet been addressed in the plastic surgery literature. As such, we assessed medical students’ knowledge and perceptions of plastic surgery as a discipline and explored factors influencing these opinions. Methods: To assess medical students’ knowledge and perceptions of plastic surgery, we conducted an online survey. A total of 231 medical students responded. Interviews were then conducted with 2 focus groups, in which we explored the survey results and reasons behind these misconceptions. Results: As with previous studies, medical students showed a gap in knowledge with respect to plastic surgery. Although they were generally aware that plastic surgeons perform cosmetic procedures and treat burns, they were largely unaware that plastic surgeons perform hand and craniofacial surgeries. Focus groups revealed that television plays a large role in shaping their ideas of plastic surgery. Conclusion: Medical students have a skewed perception of the discipline of plastic surgery, and this is largely influenced by television. Interventions aimed at educating medical students on the matter are recommended, including a greater presence in the preclerkship medical school curriculum. PMID:29026812

Prospective Primary Teachers' Understanding of Climate Change, Greenhouse Effect, and Ozone Layer Depletion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papadimitriou, Vasiliki

2004-01-01

Climate change is one of the most serious global environmental problems and for that reason there has been lately a great interest in educating pupils, the future citizens, about it. Previous research has shown that pupils of all ages and teachers hold many misconceptions and misunderstandings concerning this issue. This paper reports on research…

Reorienting health care in Africa--can the élite believe in equity?

PubMed

Einterz, E

1996-01-01

Those who have advantages try to hold on to them, but in doing so they often work to the disadvantage of everyone, including themselves. Health workers can play a key role in correcting some of the misconceptions about health produced by a combination of élitism and the unscrupulous marketing of health products.

Young Children Do Not Hold the Classic Earth's Shadow Misconception to Explain Lunar Phases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilhelm, Jennifer Anne

2014-01-01

This research explored young children's early thoughts about natural phenomena and investigated sources of influence toward their knowledge construction. Two Piagetian interviews were conducted with four children. Each child was questioned about two phenomena in particular: (a) the moon and its changing appearance (moon phases) and (b) the…

A Student with Diabetes Is in My Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenthal-Malek, Andrea; Greenspan, Jan

1999-01-01

Guidelines for managing the child with diabetes in educational settings address the nature of diabetes, attitudes of students with diabetes, common misconceptions, effects on students in the classroom, helpful strategies, and resources. (DB)

The Effect of Computer-Assisted Teaching on Remedying Misconceptions: The Case of the Subject "Probability"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurbuz, Ramazan; Birgin, Osman

2012-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of computer-assisted teaching (CAT) on remedying misconceptions students often have regarding some probability concepts in mathematics. Toward this aim, computer-assisted teaching materials were developed and used in the process of teaching. Within the true-experimental research method, a pre- and…

Bridging the Conceptual Gap between Free Fall and Drag-Dominated Regimes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Obaldia, Elida; Miller, Norma; Wittel, Fred; Jaimison, George; Wallis, Kendra

2016-01-01

Some misconceptions about physics are hard to change. For example, students continue to believe that heavier objects fall faster than light ones, even after a year of physics instruction. Physics misconceptions are persistent. Light objects do fall more slowly if their size-to-weight ratio is sufficient for drag to be appreciable. Motion through a…

Misconceptions and Biases in German Students' Perception of Multiple Energy Sources: Implications for Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Roh Pin

2016-01-01

Misconceptions and biases in energy perception could influence people's support for developments integral to the success of restructuring a nation's energy system. Science education, in equipping young adults with the cognitive skills and knowledge necessary to navigate in the confusing energy environment, could play a key role in paving the way…

Mathematics, thermodynamics, and modeling to address ten common misconceptions about protein structure, folding, and stability.

PubMed

Robic, Srebrenka

2010-01-01

To fully understand the roles proteins play in cellular processes, students need to grasp complex ideas about protein structure, folding, and stability. Our current understanding of these topics is based on mathematical models and experimental data. However, protein structure, folding, and stability are often introduced as descriptive, qualitative phenomena in undergraduate classes. In the process of learning about these topics, students often form incorrect ideas. For example, by learning about protein folding in the context of protein synthesis, students may come to an incorrect conclusion that once synthesized on the ribosome, a protein spends its entire cellular life time in its fully folded native confirmation. This is clearly not true; proteins are dynamic structures that undergo both local fluctuations and global unfolding events. To prevent and address such misconceptions, basic concepts of protein science can be introduced in the context of simple mathematical models and hands-on explorations of publicly available data sets. Ten common misconceptions about proteins are presented, along with suggestions for using equations, models, sequence, structure, and thermodynamic data to help students gain a deeper understanding of basic concepts relating to protein structure, folding, and stability.

The development of a web-based assessment system to identify students’ misconception automatically on linear kinematics with a four-tier instrument test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pujayanto, Pujayanto; Budiharti, Rini; Adhitama, Egy; Nuraini, Niken Rizky Amalia; Vernanda Putri, Hanung

2018-07-01

This research proposes the development of a web-based assessment system to identify students’ misconception. The system, named WAS (web-based assessment system), can identify students’ misconception profile on linear kinematics automatically after the student has finished the test. The test instrument was developed and validated. Items were constructed and arranged from the result of a focus group discussion (FGD), related to previous research. Fifty eight students (female  =  37, male  =  21) were used as samples. They were from different classes with 18 students from the gifted class and another 40 students from the normal class. WAS was designed specifically to support the teacher as an efficient replacement for a paper-based test system. In addition, WAS offers flexible timing functionally, stand-alone subject module, robustness and scalability. The entire WAS program and interface was developed with open source-based technologies such as the XAMP server, MySQL database, Javascript and PHP. It provides results immediately and provides diagrammatic questions as well as scientific symbols. It is feasible to apply this system to many students at once. Thus, it could be integrated in many schools as part of physics courses.

Evaluating Scientific Misconceptions and Scientific Literacy in a General Science Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Courtier, A. M.; Scott, T. J.

2009-12-01

The data used in this study were collected as part of the course assignments for General Education Science (GSci) 101: “Physics, Chemistry, and the Human Experience” at James Madison University. The course covers the basic principles of physics, chemistry, and astronomy. The primary goals of this study were to analyze student responses to general scientific questions, to identify scientific misconceptions, and to evaluate scientific literacy by comparing responses collected from different groups of students and from questions given during the course versus at the end of the course. While this project is focused on general scientific concepts, the misconceptions and patterns identified are particularly relevant for improving pedagogy in the geosciences as this field relies on multidisciplinary knowledge of fundamental physics, chemistry, and astronomy. We discuss differences in the results between the disciplines of physics, chemistry, and astronomy and their implications for general geology education and literacy, emphasizing the following questions: (a) What do students typically get wrong? (b) Did the overall scientific literacy of the students increase throughout the semester? Are the concepts discussed in answers provided at the end of class more accurate than those provided during class? (c) How do the before- and after- class responses change with respect to language and terminology? Did the students use more scientific terminology? Did the students use scientific terminology correctly?

Harnessing Technology to Improve Formative Assessment of Student Conceptions in STEM: Forging a National Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haudek, Kevin C.; Kaplan, Jennifer J.; Knight, Jennifer; Long, Tammy; Merrill, John; Munn, Alan; Nehm, Ross; Smith, Michelle; Urban-Lurain, Mark

2011-01-01

Concept inventories, consisting of multiple-choice questions designed around common student misconceptions, are designed to reveal student thinking. However, students often have complex, heterogeneous ideas about scientific concepts. Constructed-response assessments, in which students must create their own answer, may better reveal students'…

The Effectiveness of Peer Tutoring in Remedying Misconceptions of Operating System Concepts: A Design-Based Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çakiroglu, Ünal; Öngöz, Sakine

2017-01-01

This study attempted to examine students' experiences on collaborative work with peer tutoring in projects. The study also focused impact of peer tutoring on remedying misconceptions. The study was conducted in the context of an operating system course in which 30 pre-service ICT teachers are the participants. Data were gathered from pre-tests,…

Misconceptions indeed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumayer, D.; Scott, T. F.

2016-11-01

In a recent article Fotou and Abrahams (2016 Phys. Educ. 51 044003) described a study which investigated how students approach novel situations and whether their reasoning can be understood as theory-like misconceptions or phenomenological primitives. Two exemplary questions polling students’ concepts of gravity were presented in their article. Although we find the authors’ motivation and approach interesting we also raise concerns about one of these problems.

A Physics Lesson Designed According to 7E Model with the Help of Instructional Technology (Lesson Plan)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonen, Selahattin; Kocakaya, Serhat

2010-01-01

Students enter the classrooms with a preexisting knowledge of science concepts. These science concepts sometimes show inconsistency with the accepted ones by the scientists and called as misconceptions. Studies applied science field have to get possession of abilities that not only detect these misconceptions also help to solve these problems.…

Prospective Teachers' Misconceptions about the Atomic Structure in the Context of Electrification by Friction and an Activity in Order to Remedy Them

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sarikaya, Mustafa

2007-01-01

Science educators have generally agreed that understanding the atom concept is the basis of science education. However, the numerous research studies have shown that many students at all educational levels have difficulties understanding this concept. This study was developed under three headings. The first was to identify misconceptions that…

What's on the News? The Use of Media Texts in Exams of Clinical Biochemistry for Medical and Nutrition Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliveira, Julia Martins; Mesquita, Diego Martins; Hermes-Lima, Marcelo

2010-01-01

Health-related popular articles are easily found among media sources. With the increasing popularity of the internet, medical information--full of misconceptions--has become easily available to the lay people. The ability to recognize misconceptions may require good biomedical knowledge. In this sense, we decided to use articles from the internet…

Describing and Analyzing Learning in Action: An Empirical Study of the Importance of Misconceptions in Learning Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamza, Karim M.; Wickman, Per-Olof

2008-01-01

Although misconceptions in science have been established in interview studies, their role during the learning process is poorly examined. In this paper, we use results from a classroom study to analyze to what extent nonscientific ideas in electrochemistry that students report in interviews enter into their learning in a more authentic setting. We…

What Do Children Learn about Biology from Factual Information? A Comparison of Interventions to Improve Understanding of Contagious Illnesses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myant, Katherine A.; Williams, Joanne M.

2008-01-01

Background: Children have been shown to hold misconceptions about illness, and previous work has indicated that their knowledge can be improved through the use of interventions. Aims: This study aims to evaluate interventions based on the provision of factual information for improving understanding of contagious illness. Sample: The participants…

Links between Success in Non-Measurement and Calculation Tasks in Area and Volume Measurement and Pupils' Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tumová, Veronika; Vondrová, Nada

2017-01-01

Measurement in geometry is one of the key areas of school mathematics, however, pupils make serious mistakes when solving problems involving measurement and hold misconceptions. This article focuses on the possible links between lower secondary pupils' (n = 870) success in solving non-measurement tasks and calculations tasks on area and volume and…

The Adverse Effects of Le Châtelier's Principle on Teacher Understanding of Chemical Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheung, Derek

2009-04-01

Although the scientific inadequacy of Le Châtelier's principle has long been documented in the literature, the principle is still treated as a central concept of chemical equilibrium by textbook writers and teachers in many countries. In the past, researchers' interest has focused on student misconceptions about chemical equilibrium and has neglected teacher misconceptions. This study aimed to determine how Le Châtelier's principle adversely affects teachers' ability to solve chemical equilibrium problems. This area of research is critically important because teachers cannot help their students understand what they themselves do not understand. In this study, a misconception test was developed and administered to a sample of 33 secondary chemistry teachers in Hong Kong. The test consisted of three open-ended chemical equilibrium questions. Analysis of teacher responses revealed that most of the 33 teachers failed the test as they relied on Le Châtelier's principle rather than the equilibrium law to tackle the three chemical equilibrium problems. Teachers' misconceptions about chemical equilibrium were categorized. Implications of these findings for chemistry teacher education and selection of curriculum content for school chemistry are discussed.

Introducing the ‘Science Myths Revealed’ Misconception Video Series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eisenhamer, Bonnie; Villard, R.; Estacion, M.; Hassan, J.; Ryer, H.

2012-05-01

A misconception is a preconceived and inaccurate view of how the world works. There are many common science misconceptions held by students and the public alike about various topics in astronomy - including but not limited to galaxies, black holes, light and color, and the solar system. It is critical to identify and address misconceptions because they can stand in the way of new learning and impeded one’s ability to apply science principals meaningfully to everyday life. In response, the News and Education teams at the Space Telescope Science Institute worked in collaboration with a consultant to develop the “Science Myths Revealed” misconception video series. The purpose of this video series is to present common astronomy misconceptions in a brief and visually engaging manner while also presenting and reinforcing the truth of the universe and celestial phenomena within it. Viewers can the watch the videos to get more information about specific astronomy misconceptions as well as the facts to dispel them. Visual cues and demonstrations provide viewers with a more concrete representation of what are often abstract and misunderstood concepts - making the videos ideal as both engagement and instructional tools. Three videos in the series have been produced and are currently being field-tested within the education community.

Logical errors on proving theorem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sari, C. K.; Waluyo, M.; Ainur, C. M.; Darmaningsih, E. N.

2018-01-01

In tertiary level, students of mathematics education department attend some abstract courses, such as Introduction to Real Analysis which needs an ability to prove mathematical statements almost all the time. In fact, many students have not mastered this ability appropriately. In their Introduction to Real Analysis tests, even though they completed their proof of theorems, they achieved an unsatisfactory score. They thought that they succeeded, but their proof was not valid. In this study, a qualitative research was conducted to describe logical errors that students made in proving the theorem of cluster point. The theorem was given to 54 students. Misconceptions on understanding the definitions seem to occur within cluster point, limit of function, and limit of sequences. The habit of using routine symbol might cause these misconceptions. Suggestions to deal with this condition are described as well.

Detecting and Reducing Science Teacher Candidate’s (STC) Misconception About Motion and Force By Using Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and problem Based Learning (PBL)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oktarisa, Y.; Utami, I. S.; Denny, Y. R.

2017-02-01

This study has been done to 34 science teacher candidates of Teachers’ Training and Education Faculty of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University at their first year of study during 2015-2016 school years. This research focused on student’s misconception about motion and force and how Problem Based Learning (PBL) reducing it. Diagnostic test of misconception about motion and force has been detected by using Force Concept Inventory (FCI). FCI had been used in pretest and posttest, and to find the reducing of students’ misconception N-Gain pretest and posttest of each student had been calculated. Quasi experiment one group pretest and posttest had been used as the research method, and Problem Based Learning (PBL) used as the treatment of manipulation. After two weeks learning motion and force with PBL approach, N-gain which obtained prove that misconception about motion and force had been reducing.

Addressing the Misconceptions of Middle School Students About Becoming a Scientist or Engineer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newsom, H. E.; Sorge, C.; Hagerty, J. J.

2000-01-01

Assessment of our educational outreach program shows that students and their parents are excited about space science, but stereotypes about science and scientists drastically effect student attitudes about science and pursuing a technical career.

Reaching the Future Teachers in Your Classroom: New Directions in Pre-Service Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grier, Jennifer A.; Ruberg, L.

2006-09-01

We will present results and progress from initiatives seeking to improve the experiences of future teachers in college level science classes. A future teacher (pre-service teacher) is inspired to teach science based on personal experiences with college science classes. The most critical opportunity to make a real difference in science education in schools comes when the teachers themselves are first being educated. Given the difficulties in identifying future teachers and the wide variations in their needs, how can we best help future teachers in training? What critical thinking skills are most important for them to absorb from their exposure to science as undergraduates and graduate students? What teaching and learning experiences can we offer that will help science teachers in training confidently assess the relationship between evidence and explanations and then bring that understanding and experience effectively into their own classroom? Recent initiatives in pre-service education have identified several key strategies for improving teacher preparation at the post-secondary level: - Using a constructivist approach to teach physical science concepts and guided inquiry - Knowing common misconceptions about key scientific concepts that students bring to college-level science classrooms - Applying documented strategies for identifying and addressing student misconceptions; and - Knowing how to select and adapt curriculum materials based on common preconceptions held by students. The challenge of reaching these outcomes is complex and cannot be addressed with simple solutions. Teaching strategies that help prepare future teachers include modeling effective teaching of science, understanding the relationship between student/teacher misconceptions, designing and implementing evaluation and assessment, appropriate use of technology tools, and tapping into the existing community of learners to provide ongoing education opportunities and support as the pre-service teacher progresses. Several examples of student preconceptions and a description of the teaching strategies used to help address specific misconceptions will be provided.

Classroom Action Research on Formative Assessment in a Context-Based Chemistry Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogelzang, Johannes; Admiraal, Wilfried F.

2017-01-01

Context-based science courses stimulate students to reconstruct the information presented by connecting to their prior knowledge and experiences. However, students need support. Formative assessments inform both teacher and students about students' knowledge deficiencies and misconceptions and how students can be supported. Research on formative…

WWC Review of the Report "Conceptualizing Astronomical Scale: Virtual Simulations on Handheld Tablet Computers Reverse Misconceptions." What Works Clearinghouse Single Study Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2014

2014-01-01

The 2014 study, "Conceptualizing Astronomical Scale: Virtual Simulations on Handheld Tablet Computers Reverse Misconceptions," examined the effects of using the true-to-scale (TTS) display mode versus the orrery display mode in the iPad's Solar Walk software application on students' knowledge of the Earth's place in the solar system. The…

A Summary of Research in Science Education--1984.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawson, Anton E.; And Others

This review covers approximately 300 studies, including journal articles, dissertations, and papers presented at conferences. The studies are organized under these major headings: status surveys; scientific reasoning; elementary school science (student achievement, student conceptions/misconceptions, student curiosity/attitudes, teaching methods,…

Using conceptual maps to assess students' climate change understanding and misconceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gautier, C.

2011-12-01

The complex and interdisciplinary nature of climate change science poses special challenges for educators in helping students understand the climate system, and how it is evolving under natural and anthropogenic forcing. Students and citizens alike have existing mental models that may limit their perception and processing of the multiple relationships between processes (e.g., feedback) that arise in global change science, and prevent adoption of complex scientific concepts. Their prior knowledge base serves as the scaffold for all future learning and grasping its range and limitations serves as an important basis upon which to anchor instruction. Different instructional strategies can be adopted to help students understand the inherently interdisciplinary topic of global climate change, its interwoven human and natural causes, and the connections it has with society through a complex range of political, social, technological and economic factors. One assessment method for students' understanding of global climate change with its many uncertainties, whether associated with the workings of the climate system or with respect to social, cultural and economic processes that mediate human responses to changes within the system, is through the use of conceptual maps. When well designed, they offer a representation of students' mental model prior and post instruction. We will present two conceptual mapping activities used in the classroom to assess students' knowledge and understanding about global climate change and uncover misconceptions. For the first one, concept maps will be used to demonstrate evidence of learning and conceptual change, while for the second we will show how conceptual maps can provide information about gaps in knowledge and misconceptions students have about the topic.

Relations between intuitive biological thinking and biological misconceptions in biology majors and nonmajors.

PubMed

Coley, John D; Tanner, Kimberly

2015-03-02

Research and theory development in cognitive psychology and science education research remain largely isolated. Biology education researchers have documented persistent scientifically inaccurate ideas, often termed misconceptions, among biology students across biological domains. In parallel, cognitive and developmental psychologists have described intuitive conceptual systems--teleological, essentialist, and anthropocentric thinking--that humans use to reason about biology. We hypothesize that seemingly unrelated biological misconceptions may have common origins in these intuitive ways of knowing, termed cognitive construals. We presented 137 undergraduate biology majors and nonmajors with six biological misconceptions. They indicated their agreement with each statement, and explained their rationale for their response. Results indicate frequent agreement with misconceptions, and frequent use of construal-based reasoning among both biology majors and nonmajors in their written explanations. Moreover, results also show associations between specific construals and the misconceptions hypothesized to arise from those construals. Strikingly, such associations were stronger among biology majors than nonmajors. These results demonstrate important linkages between intuitive ways of thinking and misconceptions in discipline-based reasoning, and raise questions about the origins, persistence, and generality of relations between intuitive reasoning and biological misconceptions. © 2015 J. D. Coley and K. Tanner. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Analogies and the 5E Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orgill, Mary Kay; Thomas, Megan

2007-01-01

Science classes are full of abstract or challenging concepts that are easier to understand if an analogy is used to illustrate the points. Effective analogies motivate students, clarify students' thinking, help students overcome misconceptions, and give students ways to visualize abstract concepts. When they are used appropriately, analogies can…

Current misconception 3: that subgroup-specific trial mortality results often provide a good basis for individualising patient care

PubMed Central

Peto, R

2011-01-01

Misconceptions and ill-founded theories can arise in all areas of science. However, the apparent accessibility of many epidemiology findings and popular interest in the subject can lead to additional misunderstandings. The article below is the third in an occasional series of short editorials highlighting some current misinterpretations of epidemiological findings. Invited authors will be given wide scope in judging the prevalence of the misconception under discussion. We hope that this series will prove instructive to cancer researchers in other disciplines as well as to students of epidemiology. Adrian L Harris and Leo Kinlen PMID:21448174

Mastering the Concepts of Geologic Time: Novice Students' Understanding of the Principles of Relative Age

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speta, M.; Reid, L.

2010-12-01

Misconceptions can adversely affect students’ mastery of the fundamental geoscience concepts necessary for development of the knowledge base required to become a professional geoscientist. In the fall of 2009, in-class learning assessments were introduced into a large (400 student) undergraduate introductory geoscience course to help students develop expert-like problem solving skills for geologic problems. They were also designed to reveal students’ misconceptions on geoscience concepts in order to help direct the course of instruction. These assessments were based on simple, real-world scenarios that geoscientists encounter in their research. One of these assessments focused on the application of concepts of geologic time. It asked students to give the relative ages of granite, schist and shale based on a sketch of two outcrops, and to describe the reasoning behind their answer. In order to test all of the principles of relative age, the assignment had two possible solutions. A post-course analysis of student responses on these assessments was carried out using a modified constant comparative analysis method to identify common misconceptions. This analysis revealed that 61% of students failed to identify both possible solutions. Furthermore, 55% of students applied the principle of superposition to intrusive igneous and metamorphic rocks, and 18% treated the once connected outcrops as having separate geologic histories. 56% of students could not support their proposed geologic history with appropriate reasoning. These results suggest that the principles of relative geologic time that students had the greatest difficulty with were when to apply the principle of superposition and how to apply the principle of original continuity. Students also had difficulty using the principles of relative age to provide appropriate scientific reasoning for their choices.

The effects of instruction on college nonmajors' conceptions of respiration and photosynthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Charles W.; Sheldon, Theresa H.; Dubay, Joann

Students in a college nonscience majors' biology course took tests designed to reveal their conceptions of respiration and photosynthesis before and after course instruction. Even though most students had taken at least a full year of biology, serious misconceptions persisted. Most students gave definitions of respiration, photosynthesis, and food which were markedly different from those generally accepted by biologists. These incorrect definitions were associated with more fundamental misunderstandings about how plants and animals function. Most students could not explain how animal cells use either food or oxygen. They understood plants as vaguely analogous to animals, taking in food through their roots instead of mouths. Previous biology instruction seemed neither to improve student performance on the pretest nor to prepare them to master these conceptions during the course. Course instruction did improve student's understanding, but misconceptions persisted for many students. These results raise fundamental questions about the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction in current high school and college biology courses.

Sensory illusions: Common mistakes in physics regarding sound, light and radio waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briles, T. M.; Tabor-Morris, A. E.

2013-03-01

Optical illusions are well known as effects that we see that are not representative of reality. Sensory illusions are similar but can involve other senses than sight, such as hearing or touch. One mistake commonly noted among instructors is that students often mis-identify radio signals as sound waves and not as part of the electromagnetic spectrum. A survey of physics students from multiple high schools highlights the frequency of this common misconception, as well as other nuances on this misunderstanding. Many students appear to conclude that, since they experience radio broadcasts as sound, then sound waves are the actual transmission of radio signals and not, as is actually true, a representation of those waves as produced by the translator box, the radio. Steps to help students identify and correct sensory illusion misconceptions are discussed. School of Education

How effective are simulated molecular-level experiments for teaching diffusion and osmosis?

PubMed

Meir, Eli; Perry, Judith; Stal, Derek; Maruca, Susan; Klopfer, Eric

2005-01-01

Diffusion and osmosis are central concepts in biology, both at the cellular and organ levels. They are presented several times throughout most introductory biology textbooks (e.g., Freeman, 2002), yet both processes are often difficult for students to understand (Odom, 1995; Zuckerman, 1994; Sanger et al., 2001; and results herein). Students have deep-rooted misconceptions about how diffusion and osmosis work, especially at the molecular level. We hypothesized that this might be in part due to the inability to see and explore these processes at the molecular level. In order to investigate this, we developed new software, OsmoBeaker, which allows students to perform inquiry-based experiments at the molecular level. Here we show that these simulated laboratories do indeed teach diffusion and osmosis and help overcome some, but not all, student misconceptions.

How Effective Are Simulated Molecular-level Experiments for Teaching Diffusion and Osmosis?

PubMed Central

2005-01-01

Diffusion and osmosis are central concepts in biology, both at the cellular and organ levels. They are presented several times throughout most introductory biology textbooks (e.g., Freeman, 2002), yet both processes are often difficult for students to understand (Odom, 1995; Zuckerman, 1994; Sanger et al., 2001; and results herein). Students have deep-rooted misconceptions about how diffusion and osmosis work, especially at the molecular level. We hypothesized that this might be in part due to the inability to see and explore these processes at the molecular level. In order to investigate this, we developed new software, OsmoBeaker, which allows students to perform inquiry-based experiments at the molecular level. Here we show that these simulated laboratories do indeed teach diffusion and osmosis and help overcome some, but not all, student misconceptions. PMID:16220144

Students' Knowledge of "Things That Go Bump in the Night."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palladino, Joseph J.; Carducci, Bernardo J.

Questionnaires designed to tap misconceptions of the content of psychology courses can serve as pedagogical devices useful for introducing students to topics and for evaluating student learning. The topic of sleep and dreams is of particular interest to students. To develop a useful introductory tool and to evaluate students' knowledge of sleep,…

Science Sampler: Enhancing Student Understanding of Physical and Chemical Changes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntosh, Julie; White, Sandra; Suter, Robert

2009-01-01

Students within the Findlay, Ohio, City School District, as well as students across the country, struggle with understanding physical and chemical changes. Therefore, in this article, the authors suggest some standards-based activities to clarify misconceptions and provide formative assessments to measure your students' progress as they determine…

Student Perceptions of General Education Requirements at a Large Public University: No Surprises?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Clarissa A.; Eodice, Michele; Tran, Phuoc

2015-01-01

The current study surveyed students' knowledge of and perceptions about general education requirements at a large research-intensive university. Findings revealed that students harbored misconceptions about general education requirements and illuminated the reasons why students were choosing to take required general education courses at other…

Assessing 16-Year-Old Students' Understanding of Aqueous Solution at Submicroscopic Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devetak, Iztok; Vogrinc, Janez; Glazar, Sasa Aleksij

2009-01-01

Submicrorepresentations (SMR) could be an important element, not only for explaining the experimental observations to students, but also in the process of evaluating students' knowledge and identifying their chemical misconceptions. This study investigated the level of students' understanding of the solution concentration and the process of…

Investigating Undergraduate Science Students' Conceptions and Misconceptions of Ocean Acidification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Danielson, Kathryn I.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2015-01-01

Scientific research exploring ocean acidification has grown significantly in past decades. However, little science education research has investigated the extent to which undergraduate science students understand this topic. Of all undergraduate students, one might predict science students to be best able to understand ocean acidification. What…

Springing into Inquiry: Using Student Ideas to Investigate Seasons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcox, Jesse; Kruse, Jerrid

2012-01-01

Although inquiry is more engaging and results in more meaningful learning (Minner, Levy, and Century 2010) than traditional science classroom instruction, actually involving students in the process is difficult. Furthermore, many students have misconceptions about Earth's seasons, which are supported by students' prior knowledge of heat sources.…

A Cross-Age Study of Student Understanding of the Concept of Diffusion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westbrook, Susan L.; Marek, Edmund A.

1991-01-01

Examines seventh grade life science students, tenth grade biology students, and college zoology students for understanding of the concept of diffusion. Describes the differences among the grade levels in sound or partial understanding, misconceptions, and no understanding. Discusses the effect of developmental level on understanding. (KR)

Secondary Students' Interpretations of Photosynthesis and Plant Nutrition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozay, Esra; Oztas, Haydar

2003-01-01

Studies misconceptions held by grade 9 students (14-15-years old) in Turkey about photosynthesis and plant nutrition. Uses a questionnaire to test students' conceptions and reports conflicting and often incorrect ideas about photosynthesis, respiration, and energy flow in plants. Suggests that there are difficulties in changing students' prior…

Six Classroom Exercises to Teach Natural Selection to Undergraduate Biology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalinowski, Steven T.; Leonard, Mary J.; Andrews, Tessa M.; Litt, Andrea R.

2013-01-01

Students in introductory biology courses frequently have misconceptions regarding natural selection. In this paper, we describe six activities that biology instructors can use to teach undergraduate students in introductory biology courses how natural selection causes evolution. These activities begin with a lesson introducing students to natural…

The change in students' understanding of the mole concept in introductory college chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Shane Harvie

This study investigated the difference between the students' understanding of the mole concept in chemistry at the beginning and at the end of the first semester of introductory chemistry courses. The study also identified the relationship between the criterion variable understanding of the mole concept in chemistry and the independent variables of cognitive level, type of introductory college chemistry class, and the number of lectures spent teaching the mole concept. In addition, this study examined (a) the students' misconceptions and (b) the aspects of the traditional teaching methods used in the introductory college chemistry courses that helped the students' understanding of the mole concept. This study was conducted using 180 volunteer students in their first semester of an introductory college chemistry course. These students were given a pretest instrument called the Mole Concepts Examination (MCE) to measure their understanding of the mole concept, the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) to measure the students' cognitive level of logical thinking, and a posttest of the MCE to measure the students' understanding of the mole concept at the end of the semester. In addition, an interview was given to a selected group of 18 students to find out if the students remember the teaching techniques used to help them understand the mole concept and to determine some of the misconceptions that the students retained at the end of the semester. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between students' understanding of the mole concept and their cognitive level. There was no significant relationship between students' understanding of the mole concept and the type of class, or the number of lectures spent teaching the mole concept. Qualitative results indicated that students were able to explain their answers to the posttest questions; students were able to identify some instructional techniques that helped them to understand the mole concept, and students of all cognitive levels retained misconceptions about the mole concept at the end of the semester.

Investigating Mathematics Teachers' Thoughts of Statistical Inference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Kai-Lin

2012-01-01

Research on statistical cognition and application suggests that statistical inference concepts are commonly misunderstood by students and even misinterpreted by researchers. Although some research has been done on students' misunderstanding or misconceptions of confidence intervals (CIs), few studies explore either students' or mathematics…

Broadcast Education: Fighting the Trade School Image.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamalipour, Yahya R.

A number of misconceptions exist concerning broadcast education. Professional broadcasters often complain that broadcast students receive too little "hands-on" training, while academicians decry current broadcasting programs which do not challenge the students intellectually. In addition, broadcast students have their own set of…

A Problem-Solving Approach to Teaching Operant Conditioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shields, Carolyn; Gredler, Margaret

2003-01-01

Psychology students frequently have misconceptions of basic concepts in operant conditioning. Prior classroom observations revealed that most students defined positive reinforcement as reward and equated negative reinforcement and punishment. Students also labeled positive reinforcement as rewarding good behavior and negative reinforcement as…

The effect of learning styles and attitude on preservice elementary teachers' conceptual understanding of chemistry and the nature of matter in a simulation-based learning environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Jaroudi, Mo H.

This causal-comparative descriptive study investigated the achievement of pre-service elementary teachers taking an introductory physical science course that integrates inquiry-based instruction with computer simulations. The study was intended to explore if pre-service elementary teachers with different attitudes towards science as well as students with different learning styles would benefit differentially. Four research questions including four hypotheses were developed. The first major question consist of four specific hypothesis that addressed preservice elementary teachers' learning styles (Active/Reflective, Sensing/Intuitive, Visual/Verbal, and Sequential/Global) and their conceptual understanding of chemistry and the particulate nature of matter in a science class which use hands-on learning integrated with computer based simulated activities. The second major question pertained to the relationship between preservice teachers learning science and chemistry and their attitude towards science. The third major question related to preservice elementary teachers science and chemistry achievement gain scores and attitude average affected by their learning styles. Finally, the fourth question pertained to the dissipation or the minimization of preservice elementary teachers' science and chemistry misconceptions over the course of study. Three instruments were given to preservice elementary teachers in three different classes: pretest/posttest for the science conceptual understanding examination, and pretest-only for the science attitude and learning styles instruments. Total usable science attitude surveys returned was 67 out of 70. The overall average mean was 3.13 (SD = .51) on a five point scale. Total return of science achievement instrument was 65, with a total mean test score (quantitative and qualitative together) of 6.38 (SD = 3.05) on the pretest, with a post test mean of 9.06 (SD = 4.19). Results revealed no statistically significant achievement gain scores based on students' learning styles, entering in all 4-combined dimensions at the same time Visual/Verbal, Sensing/Intuitive, Sequential/Global, and Active/Reflective (p > .05), indicating the four learning styles dimensions cannot be used to predict students' achievement gain. Results also indicated that there was no significant relationship between achievement gain and students' attitude (p > .05). Attitude and learning style together were also not significantly related to achievement gain. Preservice elementary teachers' comprehension of chemical concepts in this study varied from no comprehension to fair comprehension, and included many misconceptions; no answer showed complete understanding of the concepts. Many of the preservice teachers held misconception related to evaporation. If not addressed in science content and methods courses, this could be a problem as this new generation of teachers goes out to teach. It is proposed that to fix preservice elementary teachers' conceptual problems, curriculum needs to specifically focus on misconceptions. The preservice elementary subjects of the study showed a variety of misconceptions on both pretest and posttest concerning the particulate and the kinetic nature of matter. Suggestions are made is that a science content course could more contribute to preservice students' conceptual change if curriculum designers incorporate a segment that specifically addresses misconceptions, especially those misconceptions that have been documented in the literature for decades. A robust cognitive model for science education is proposed to increase teachers' science knowledge and to decrease science misconceptions.

Misconception of biology education student of teacher training and education of Sriwijaya University to the concept of photosynthesis and respiration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Susanti, Rahmi

2018-05-01

This study aimed to gain an overview of misconceptions on the concept of photosynthesis and respiration. The study involved 58 students from Biology Education of Sriwijaya University. Collecting data used written test of 16 questions, which are 10 questions of multiple choice and 6 of choice with reason. The results showed that:photosynthesis occurs continuously (37.9%), energy used for photosynthesis are light and heat energy (34.5%), plants take CO2to respiration (47%), plants carry on respiration in the absence of light for photosynthesis (22.4%), respiration in plants occurs only in leaf cells (76.4%), and only animals that take O2 of photosynthesis to respiration (68.9%). The conclusion: 1) on the concept of photosynthesis is still prevailing misconceptions about the concept of the place and time of the occurrence of photosynthesis in plants, the role of the sun in photosynthesis, energy is required in the form of photosynthesis, and the role of photosynthesis for the plant. 2) on the concept of respiration is still prevailing misconceptions about the place of the respiration in plants, gas necessary for respiration of plants, and the plants perform respiration time, as well as the cycle of CO2 and O2 that occurs in nature.

Students' Concepts of Force: The Importance of Understanding Newton's Third Law.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David E.

1989-01-01

Reports various misconceptions of Newton's third law obtained from interviews and written tests of high school students. Suggests putting emphasis on the third law in physics teaching. Ten references are listed. (YP)

Natural Selection Is a Sorting Process: What Does that Mean?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Rebecca M.

2013-01-01

To learn why natural selection acts only on existing variation, students categorize processes as either creative or sorting. This activity helps students confront the misconception that adaptations evolve because species need them.

Reconstructing the Geologic Timeline.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hemler, Deb; Repine, Tom

2002-01-01

Reports on the use of a non-traditional approach to constructing a geological timeline that allows students to manipulate data, explore their understanding, and confront misconceptions. Lists possible steps to use in engaging students in this constructivist activity. (DDR)

Sinking In

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruse, Jerrid; Wilcox, Jesse

2015-01-01

High school students often enter classrooms with misconceptions about density. While many students may have studied the concept in middle school, they lack the understanding on which to build more advanced concepts, such as the particulate nature of matter. This lack of understanding poses problems for students' learning about Pascal's principle…

Probability from a Socio-Cultural Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Sashi

2016-01-01

There exists considerable and rich literature on students' misconceptions about probability; less attention has been paid to the development of students' probabilistic thinking in the classroom. Grounded in an analysis of the literature, this article offers a lesson sequence for developing students' probabilistic understanding. In particular, a…

Reinterpretation of Students' Ideas When Reasoning about Particle Model Illustrations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langbeheim, Elon

2015-01-01

The article, "Using Animations in Identifying General Chemistry Students' Misconceptions and Evaluating Their Knowledge Transfer Relating to Particle Position in Physical Changes" (Smith and Villarreal, 2015), reports that a substantial proportion of undergraduate students expressed misconceived ideas regarding the motion of particles in…

Describing Changes in Undergraduate Students' Preconceptions of Research Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cartrette, David P.; Melroe-Lehrman, Bethany M.

2012-01-01

Research has shown that students bring naive scientific conceptions to learning situations which are often incongruous with accepted scientific explanations. These preconceptions are frequently determined to be misconceptions; consequentially instructors spend time to remedy these beliefs and bring students' understanding of scientific concepts to…

An assessment of high school students' conceptual structures of heat and temperature through concept maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aykutlu, Isil; Bezen, Sevim; Bayrak, Celal

2017-02-01

This study is a qualitative one conducted in order to determine 9th, 10th, and 11th grade high school students' conceptual structures of heat and temperature through concept maps. The study was realized with the participation of a total of 80 students. As data gathering tool, a concept map developed by the researchers, which includes such items as heat, temperature, and matter, was used. Students were asked to form a concept map by using the concepts in the form and the concepts they thought were related with these. Data obtained from the research was analyzed via content analysis. As a result of the study, it was determined that students have misconceptions and lack of knowledge of heat and temperature. Lastly, the following can be given as examples of students' misconceptions or lack of knowledge: they think temperature comes into being as a result of heat and that heat is a kind of energy.

Assessing Middle School and College Students' Conceptions About Wind, Fog, and Tornadoes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polito, E.; Monteverdi, J. P.; Garcia, O.; Tanner, K. D.

2008-12-01

Meteorological content is presented in K-12 educational standards and in university general education courses, yet little research has been done to explore how students conceptualize weather phenomena. This investigation probes the understanding of students at three cognitive levels-6th grade earth science students, university non-meteorology majors, and meteorology major students-of three meteorological phenomena-wind, fog, and tornadoes. All students were enrolled in schools in San Francisco, CA. The meteorological content chosen for this project-wind, fog, and tornadoes-was deliberate. Wind is a fundamental process on our planet, and has the potential to cause great damage. Students have direct experience with wind on a daily basis. Fog is a dominant feature of San Francisco climatology, and a familiar phenomenon to students living in our region. Tornadoes are associated with devastating winds and represent a destructive weather phenomenon that students only experience indirectly through movies representations and other media outlets. The phases consisted of (a) a fifteen-question survey, (b) written essay assessments, and (c) videotaped interviews. Phase I, a weather survey, was given to the entire population (65 middle school students, 50 university non-meteorology majors, and 10 university meteorology majors) and consisted of 10-15 challenge statements. Challenge statements assert a common misconception or truism and ask the students to rank their level of agreement on a 4-point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree). Phase II presented the students a subset of statements and questions, and they were given 5 minutes to explain why they chose their response. To quantify the resulting qualitative data, the written essay assessments were scored using a developed conceptual rubric by multiple observers, using inter-observer reliability to measure agreement in scoring. The results from this phase helped to structure the interview protocol utilized in Phase III. A subset of the population was interviewed, allowing us to probe deeper into students' conceptions about weather. This three-phase approach allowed us to identify and explore misconceptions concerning wind, fog, and tornadoes. Preliminary results from phase I and II probing student conceptions of wind show that over 54% of 6th grade students do not see any connection between the sun and wind, offering instead that the moon, clouds, and the ocean are key contributors to wind development. 13% of students observe that because there is wind at night, and conclude from this that the sun could not play a role in creating wind. By identifying students' misconceptions about wind, fog, and tornadoes, scientists and educators can create more effective learning experiences that address student misconceptions, promote conceptual change, and move students toward a more scientific viewpoint.

A Three-Tier Diagnostic Test to Assess Pre-Service Teachers' Misconceptions about Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, Ozone Layer Depletion, and Acid Rain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozge Arslan, Harika; Cigdemoglu, Ceyhan; Moseley, Christine

2012-07-01

This study describes the development and validation of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test, the atmosphere-related environmental problems diagnostic test (AREPDiT), to reveal common misconceptions of global warming (GW), greenhouse effect (GE), ozone layer depletion (OLD), and acid rain (AR). The development of a two-tier diagnostic test procedure as described by Treagust constitutes the framework for this study. To differentiate a lack of knowledge from a misconception, a certainty response index is added as a third tier to each item. Based on propositional knowledge statements, related literature, and the identified misconceptions gathered initially from 157 pre-service teachers, the AREPDiT was constructed and administered to 256 pre-service teachers. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of the pre-service teachers' scores was estimated to be 0.74. Content and face validations were established by senior experts. A moderate positive correlation between the participants' both-tiers scores and their certainty scores indicated evidence for construct validity. Therefore, the AREPDiT is a reliable and valid instrument not only to identify pre-service teachers' misconceptions about GW, GE, OLD, and AR but also to differentiate these misconceptions from lack of knowledge. The results also reveal that a majority of the respondents demonstrated limited understandings about atmosphere-related environmental problems and held six common misconceptions. Future studies could test the AREPDiT as a tool for assessing the misconceptions held by pre-service teachers from different programs as well as in-service teachers and high school students.

Evaluating Educational Practices for Positively Affecting Student Perceptions of a Sales Career

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummins, Shannon; Peltier, James W.; Pomirleanu, Nadia; Cross, James; Simon, Rob

2015-01-01

Despite demand for new graduates seeking a sales position, student reticence toward pursuing a sales career remains. While all students will not choose a sales career, diminishing the existence of sales-related misconceptions among the student population should establish sales as a viable career path for a larger number of students. We test six…

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Knowledge and Stigma Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder Among College Students in Lebanon and the United States.

PubMed

Obeid, Rita; Daou, Nidal; DeNigris, Danielle; Shane-Simpson, Christina; Brooks, Patricia J; Gillespie-Lynch, Kristen

2015-11-01

Although misconceptions associated with ASD are apparent worldwide, they may differ across cultures. This study compares knowledge and stigma associated with ASD in a country with limited autism resources, Lebanon, and a country with substantial autism resources, the United States (US). College students in the US (N = 346) and Lebanon (N = 329) completed assessments of knowledge and stigma associated with ASD before and after an online ASD training. Although students in the US exhibited higher overall knowledge and lower stigma towards ASD, certain misconceptions were more apparent in the US than in Lebanon. Participation in the training was associated with decreased stigma and increased knowledge in both countries. Thus, online training may be useful for increasing understanding about ASD internationally.

Assessing secondary science students' knowledge of molecule movement, concentration gradients, and equilibrium through multiple contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raven, Sara

2015-09-01

Background: Studies have shown that students' knowledge of osmosis and diffusion and the concepts associated with these processes is often inaccurate. This is important to address, as these concepts not only provide the foundation for more advanced topics in biology and chemistry, but are also threaded throughout both state and national science standards. Purpose: In this study, designed to determine the completeness and accuracy of three specific students' knowledge of molecule movement, concentration gradients, and equilibrium, I sought to address the following question: Using multiple evaluative methods, how can students' knowledge of molecule movement, concentration gradients, and equilibrium be characterized? Sample: This study focuses on data gathered from three students - Emma, Henry, and Riley - all of whom were gifted/honors ninth-grade biology students at a suburban high school in the southeast United States. Design and Methods: Using various qualitative data analysis techniques, I analyzed multiple sources of data from the three students, including multiple-choice test results, written free-response answers, think-aloud interview responses, and student drawings. Results: Results of the analysis showed that students maintained misconceptions about molecule movement, concentration gradients, and equilibrium. The conceptual knowledge students demonstrated differed depending on the assessment method, with the most distinct differences appearing on the multiple-choice versus the free-response questions, and in verbal versus written formats. Conclusions: Multiple levels of assessment may be required to obtain an accurate picture of content knowledge, as free-response and illustrative tasks made it difficult for students to conceal any misconceptions. Using a variety of assessment methods within a section of the curriculum can arguably help to provide a deeper understanding of student knowledge and learning, as well as illuminate misconceptions that may have remained unknown if only one assessment method was used. Furthermore, beyond simply evaluating past learning, multiple assessment methods may aid in student comprehension of key concepts.

Undergraduate Chemistry Students' Perceptions of and Misconceptions about Buffers and Buffer Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orgill, MaryKay; Sutherland, Aynsley

2008-01-01

Both upper- and lower-level chemistry students struggle with understanding the concept of buffers and with solving corresponding buffer problems. While it might be reasonable to expect general chemistry students to struggle with this abstract concept, it is surprising that upper-level students in analytical chemistry and biochemistry continue to…

Student Understanding of Function Composition and the Effect of Dynamic Visualization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ratliff, Bobby Kevin

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine (1) strategies students use when solving composition problems and the difficulties they encounter; (2) conceptions and/or misconceptions students have with respect to composition of functions; and (3) the effect of using dynamic visualization during instruction on students' understanding of composition of…

Building and Activating Students' Background Knowledge: It's What They Already Know That Counts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy; Lapp, Diane

2012-01-01

Students enter the middle grades with varying amounts of background knowledge. Teachers must assess student background knowledge for gaps or misconceptions and then provide instruction to build on that base. This article discusses effective strategies for assessing and developing students' background knowledge so they can become independent…

Lesson Imaging in Math and Science: Anticipating Student Ideas and Questions for Deeper STEM Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephan, Michelle; Pugalee, David; Cline, Julie; Cline, Chris

2016-01-01

Help turn students into problem solvers. With lesson imaging, teachers anticipate how chosen activities will unfold in real time--what solutions, questions, and misconceptions students might have and how teachers can promote deeper reasoning. When lesson imaging occurs before instruction, students achieve lesson objectives more naturally and…

Effect of Cooperative Learning Strategies on Students' Understanding of Concepts in Electrochemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acar, Burcin; Tarhan, Leman

2007-01-01

The present study was conducted to investigate the degree of effectiveness of cooperative learning instruction over a traditional approach on 11th grade students' understanding of electrochemistry. The study involved forty-one 11th grade students from two science classes with the same teacher. To determine students' misconceptions concerning…

US students have wrong view of teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kruesi, Liz

2017-04-01

Students taking science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in the US have a number of misconceptions about teaching that may be leading them to choose other careers, according to a study by the American Physical Society (APS).

Swinging into Pendulums with a Background.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrow, Lloyd H.; Cook, Julie

1993-01-01

Explains reasons why students have misconceptions concerning pendulum swings. Presents a series of 10 pendulum task cards to provide middle-school students with a solid mental scaffolding upon which to build their knowledge of kinetic energy and pendulums. (PR)

Analysis misconception of integers in microteaching activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setyawati, R. D.; Indiati, I.

2018-05-01

This study view to analyse student misconceptions on integers in microteaching activities. This research used qualitative research design. An integers test contained questions from eight main areas of integers. The Integers material test includes (a) converting the image into fractions, (b) examples of positive numbers including rational numbers, (c) operations in fractions, (d) sorting fractions from the largest to the smallest, and vice versa; e) equate denominator, (f) concept of ratio mark, (g) definition of fraction, and (h) difference between fractions and parts. The results indicated an integers concepts: (1) the students have not been able to define concepts well based on the classification of facts in organized part; (2) The correlational concept: students have not been able to combine interrelated events in the form of general principles; and (3) theoretical concepts: students have not been able to use concepts that facilitate in learning the facts or events in an organized system.

Searching for cures: Inner-city and rural patients' awareness and perceptions of cancer clinical trials.

PubMed

Geana, Mugur; Erba, Joseph; Krebill, Hope; Doolittle, Gary; Madhusudhana, Sheshadri; Qasem, Abdulraheem; Malomo, Nikki; Sharp, Denise

2017-03-01

Fewer than 5% of cancer patients participate in clinical trials, making it challenging to test new therapies or interventions for cancer. Even within that small number, patients living in inner-city and rural areas are underrepresented in clinical trials. This study explores cancer patients' awareness and perceptions of cancer clinical trials, as well as their perceptions of patient-provider interactions related to discussing cancer clinical trials in order to improve accrual in cancer clinical trials. Interviews with 66 former and current in inner-city and rural cancer patients revealed a lack of awareness and understanding about clinical trials, as well as misconceptions about what clinical trials entail. Findings also revealed that commercials and television shows play a prominent role in forming inner-city and rural patients' attitudes and/or misconceptions about clinical trials. However, rural patients were more likely to hold unfavorable views about clinical trials than inner-city patients. Patient-provider discussions emerged as being crucial for increasing awareness of clinical trials among patients and recruiting them to trials. Findings from this study will inform communication strategies to enhance recruitment to cancer clinical trials by increasing awareness and countering misconceptions about clinical trials.

In Physics Education, Perception Matters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sattizahn, Jason R.; Lyons, Daniel J.; Kontra, Carly; Fischer, Susan M.; Beilock, Sian L.

2015-01-01

Student difficulties in science learning are frequently attributed to misconceptions about scientific concepts. We argue that domain-general perceptual processes may also influence students' ability to learn and demonstrate mastery of difficult science concepts. Using the concept of center of gravity (CoG), we show how student difficulty in…

Pushing the Limit: A Class Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odafe, Victor U.

2012-01-01

Instructors are constantly struggling to help students understand mathematical concepts as well as the relevance of mathematics to the real world. In calculus, students possess misconceptions of the limit concept. "Pushing the Limit" refers to a semester-long calculus class project that required students to read about, interview calculus…

Chemistry Students' Erroneous Conceptions of Limiting Reagent.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mammen, K. J.

1996-01-01

Describes a study of 32 University of Transkei (South Africa) freshmen's conceptualization of "limiting reagent," a basic concept in chemistry, based on student responses to two written test questions and clinical interviews. Results indicated that a high percentage of students had misconceptions and could not apply the concept…

Drawing on Students' Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schussler, Elisabeth; Winslow, Jeff

2007-01-01

Effective instruction requires continual assessment of student understanding to identify and redirect misconceptions. This is particularly important when dealing with topics that seem straightforward to the teacher but may go beyond the personal experience of many students, such as the life cycle of flowering plants. Life cycles are a core topic…

Invisible Misconceptions: Student Understanding of Ultraviolet and Infrared Radiation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Libarkin, Julie C.; Asghar, Anila; Crockett, C.; Sadler, Philip

2011-01-01

The importance of nonvisible wavelengths for the study of astronomy suggests that student understanding of nonvisible light is an important consideration in astronomy classrooms. Questionnaires, interviews, and panel discussions were used to investigate 6-12 student and teacher conceptions of ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR). Alternative…

Student Achievement Effects of Technology-Supported Remediation of Understanding of Fractions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, John A.; Bruce, Catherine D.

2009-01-01

Students have difficulty learning fractions, and problems in understanding fractions persist into adulthood, with moderate to severe consequences for everyday and occupational decision-making. Remediation of student misconceptions is hampered by deficiencies in teachers' knowledge of the discipline and pedagogical content knowledge. We theorized…

The Parallelism between Scientists' and Students' Resistance to New Scientific Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campanario, Juan Miguel

2002-01-01

Compares resistance by scientists to new ideas in scientific discovery with students' resistance to conceptual change in scientific learning. Studies the resistance by students to abandoning their misconceptions concerning scientific topics and the resistance by scientists to scientific discovery. (Contains 64 references.) (Author/YDS)

A Framework for Physics Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erzberger, Andria; And Others

1996-01-01

Describes the activities of the Physics Teachers Action Research Group in which college physics teachers work together in planning, revising, and evaluating student projects that foster greater conceptual understanding and address student misconceptions. Presents the details of a project in which students were asked to build an accelerometer. (JRH)

Equity and Access: All Students Are Mathematical Problem Solvers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franz, Dana Pompkyl; Ivy, Jessica; McKissick, Bethany R.

2016-01-01

Often mathematical instruction for students with disabilities, especially those with learning disabilities, includes an overabundance of instruction on mathematical computation and does not include high-quality instruction on mathematical reasoning and problem solving. In fact, it is a common misconception that students with learning disabilities…

Teaching evolution (and all of biology) more effectively: Strategies for engagement, critical reasoning, and confronting misconceptions.

PubMed

Nelson, Craig E

2008-08-01

The strength of the evidence supporting evolution has increased markedly since the discovery of DNA but, paradoxically, public resistance to accepting evolution seems to have become stronger. A key dilemma is that science faculty have often continued to teach evolution ineffectively, even as the evidence that traditional ways of teaching are inferior has become stronger and stronger. Three pedagogical strategies that together can make a large difference in students' understanding and acceptance of evolution are extensive use of interactive engagement, a focus on critical thinking in science (especially on comparisons and explicit criteria) and using both of these in helping the students actively compare their initial conceptions (and publicly popular misconceptions) with more fully scientific conceptions. The conclusion that students' misconceptions must be dealt with systematically can be difficult for faculty who are teaching evolution since much of the students' resistance is framed in religious terms and one might be reluctant to address religious ideas in class. Applications to teaching evolution are illustrated with examples that address criteria and critical thinking, standard geology versus flood geology, evolutionary developmental biology versus organs of extreme perfection, and the importance of using humans as a central example. It is also helpful to bridge the false dichotomy, seen by many students, between atheistic evolution versus religious creationism. These applications are developed in detail and are intended to be sufficient to allow others to use these approaches in their teaching. Students and other faculty were quite supportive of these approaches as implemented in my classes.

Misconceptions about optics: An effect of misleading explanations?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favale, Fabrizio; Bondani, Maria

2014-07-01

During our activities of physics dissemination with High School students especially concerning optics, we are used to distribute a questionnaire about colors and image formation by mirrors and lenses. The answers to some questions clearly show misconceptions and naïve ideas about colors, ray tracing, image formation in reflection and refraction. These misconceptions are widespread and do not depend on the gender, the level, and the age of the students: they seem to depend on some wrong ideas and explanatory models that are not changed by the curricular studies at school. In fact, the same errors are present in groups of students before and after taking optics courses at High School. On the other hand we have also found some misleading explanations of the phenomena both in textbooks and websites. Most of the time, errors occur in the explanatory drawings accompanying the text, which are based on some hybrid description of the optical processes: sometimes the description of the path of the ray light is confused with the image reconstruction by the lenses. We think that to partially avoid some errors it is important to use a teaching path centered on the actual path of the rays and not on what eyes see (the vision). Here we present the results of data collected from more than 200 students and some considerations about figures and explanations found in textbooks.

Misconceptions Surrounding Climate Change: A Review of the Literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Templeton, C. M.; McNeal, K. S.; Libarkin, J.

2011-12-01

Misconceptions about climate change abound in every corner of society. The result manifests itself ranging from apprehension to total disregard for climate change conditions. According to several sources, however, a large percentage of the U. S. population do, indeed indicate some concern over global warming and climate change in general. These climate change misconceptions are numerous and include, to name a few; confusion between weather and climate, how greenhouse gases are affecting the earth, the effects of ozone depletion, earth's natural cycles, volcanic activity, nuclear waste and a host of other anthropogenic influences. This paper is a review of the current research literature relating to climate change misconceptions. These errant views will be addressed, cataloged, enumerated, and ranked to get a grasp on where the general population, politicians, scientists, and educators as well as students stand on informed climate change information. The categories where misconceptions arise have been identified in this literature review study and include the following: Natural cycles of the earth, ecological which include deforestation, urban development and any human intervention on the environment, educational - including teacher strategies, student understanding and textbook updates, emotional, ozone layer and its interactions, polar ice, political regulations, mandates and laws, pollution from human sources as well as from nature, religious beliefs and dogma and social beliefs. We suggest appropriate solutions for addressing these misconceptions, especially in the classroom setting, and broadly include available funding sources for work in climate change education. Some solutions include need for compilation of appropriate education resources and materials for public use, need for the development of educational materials that appropriately address the variety of publics, and need for programs that are conducting climate change education research and EPO work to communicate and share resources in a common community. Many organizations are addressing these critical needs and we will compile these efforts in our analysis as well.

The Negative Sign and Exponential Expressions: Unveiling Students' Persistent Errors and Misconceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cangelosi, Richard; Madrid, Silvia; Cooper, Sandra; Olson, Jo; Hartter, Beverly

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not certain errors made when simplifying exponential expressions persist as students progress through their mathematical studies. College students enrolled in college algebra, pre-calculus, and first- and second-semester calculus mathematics courses were asked to simplify exponential…

Students' Conceptions as Dynamically Emergent Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David E.

2014-01-01

There is wide consensus that learning in science must be considered a process of conceptual change rather than simply information accrual. There are three perspectives on students' conceptions and conceptual change in science that have significant presence in the science education literature: students' ideas as misconceptions, as…

Response Switching and Self-Efficacy in Peer Instruction Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Kelly; Schell, Julie; Ho, Andrew; Lukoff, Brian; Mazur, Eric

2015-01-01

Peer Instruction, a well-known student-centered teaching method, engages students during class through structured, frequent questioning and is often facilitated by classroom response systems. The central feature of any Peer Instruction class is a conceptual question designed to help resolve student misconceptions about subject matter. We provide…

Are You Teaching Your Students about Stem Cells?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Concannon, James; Brown, Patrick L.; Brandt, Trisha

2009-01-01

This activity targets students' misconceptions about embryonic and adult stem cells while also addressing an important grades 9-12 science content standard. The authors designed the activity to provide students an opportunity to explore differences between embryonic and adult stem cells prior to formal explanation. The overarching goal of this…

Learning Algebra from Worked Examples

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lange, Karin E.; Booth, Julie L.; Newton, Kristie J.

2014-01-01

For students to be successful in algebra, they must have a truly conceptual understanding of key algebraic features as well as the procedural skills to complete a problem. One strategy to correct students' misconceptions combines the use of worked example problems in the classroom with student self-explanation. "Self-explanation" is the…

An Analysis of Undergraduate General Chemistry Students' Misconceptions of the Submicroscopic Level of Precipitation Reactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Resa M.; Barrera, Juliet H.; Mohamed, Saheed C.

2010-01-01

This study examined how 21 college-level general chemistry students, who had received instruction that emphasized the symbolic level of ionic equations, explained their submicroscopic-level understanding of precipitation reactions. Students' explanations expressed through drawings and semistructured interviews revealed the nature of the…

Anthologizing Transformation: Breaking Down Students'"Private Theories" about Poetry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chick, Nancy L.

2002-01-01

Presents an assignment in which students look through a handful of poetry collections or anthologies, seeking 20 poems they like and thus understand or want to understand to some extent. Describes the benefits of this assignment, including honing students' interpretive skills, dispelling their misconceptions about the genre, and continuing their…

Generating Cognitive Dissonance in Student Interviews through Multiple Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linenberger, Kimberly J.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2012-01-01

This study explores what students understand about enzyme-substrate interactions, using multiple representations of the phenomenon. In this paper we describe our use of the 3 Phase-Single Interview Technique with multiple representations to generate cognitive dissonance within students in order to uncover misconceptions of enzyme-substrate…

College Students' Perceptions about the Plausibility of Human-Induced Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lombardi, Doug; Sinatra, Gale M.

2012-01-01

Overcoming students' misconceptions may be a challenge when teaching about phenomena such as climate change. Students tend to cite short-term weather effects as evidence to support or refute long-term climate transformations, which displays a fundamental misunderstanding about weather and climate distinctions. Confusion about weather and climate…

Singapore Students' Misconceptions of Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chew-Hung; Pascua, Liberty

2016-01-01

Climate change is an important theme in the investigation of human-environment interactions in geographic education. This study explored the nature of students' understanding of concepts and processes related to climate change. Through semi-structured interviews, data was collected from 27 Secondary 3 (Grade 9) students from Singapore. The data…

The Relationship between College Zoology Students' Beliefs about Evolutionary Theory and Religion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinclair, Anne; And Others

1997-01-01

Researchers administered surveys to college zoology students prior to, and immediately following a study of evolutionary theory, to assess their understanding and acceptance of evidence supporting the theory. Results showed students had many misconceptions about the theory. Their beliefs interfered with their ability to objectively view scientific…

The Conceptual Understanding of Sound by Students with Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wild, Tiffany A.; Hilson, Margilee P.; Hobson, Sally M.

2013-01-01

Introduction: The purpose of the study presented here was to understand and describe the misconceptions of students with visual impairments about sound and instructional techniques that may help them to develop a scientific understanding. Methods: Semistructured interview-centered pre-and posttests were used to identify the students' conceptual…

Reasoning about Natural Selection: Diagnosing Contextual Competency Using the ACORNS Instrument

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nehm, Ross H.; Beggrow, Elizabeth P.; Opfer, John E.; Ha, Minsu

2012-01-01

Studies of students' thinking about natural selection have revealed that the scenarios in which students reason evoke different types, magnitudes, and arrangements of knowledge elements and misconceptions. Diagnostic tests are needed that probe students' thinking across a representative array of evolutionary contexts. The ACORNS is a diagnostic…

Role of Discrepant Questioning Leading to Model Element Modification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rea-Ramirez, Mary Anne; Nunez-Oviedo, Maria Cecilia; Clement, John

2009-01-01

Discrepant questioning is a teaching technique that can help students "unlearn" misconceptions and process science ideas for deep understanding. Discrepant questioning is a technique in which teachers question students in a way that requires them to examine their ideas or models, without giving information prematurely to the student or passing…

The Pennies-as-Electrons Analogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashmann, Scott

2009-01-01

Everyday experiences familiarize students with the ways in which electricity is used, but often the underlying concepts remain a mystery. Teachers often use analogies to help students relate the flow of electrons to other common systems, but many times these analogies are incomplete and lead to more student misconceptions. However, the "pass the…

Awareness of Hypertension among Black College Students: An Exploratory Study with Counseling Implications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Livingston, Ivor L.

1982-01-01

Explored awareness of hypertension among a sample of Black, urban college students (N=419). Ascertained factors related to awareness of hypertension. Results indicated that the predominant misconception held was that hypertension only affects the elderly. Suggests group counseling methods to increase Black college students' awareness of…

To Lead or Not to Lead?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bertenshaw, Maria; Bradford, Katie; Burns, Natalie; Flux, Rachel; Horan, Danielle

2013-01-01

The authors of this article, as student teachers, explored becoming facilitators in lessons focusing on micro-organisms. They elicited ideas from their students and found that even the brightest children held some misconceptions about micro-organisms. The students had some knowledge, but they had not learned how to apply this to investigations…

Students' Epistemological Framing in Quantum Mechanics Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Modir, Bahar; Thompson, John D.; Sayre, Eleanor C.

2017-01-01

Students' difficulties in quantum mechanics may be the result of unproductive framing and not a fundamental inability to solve the problems or misconceptions about physics content. We observed groups of students solving quantum mechanics problems in an upper-division physics course. Using the lens of epistemological framing, we investigated four…

May the Magnetic Force Be with You

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcox, Jesse; Richey, Lindsey R.

2012-01-01

Although most elementary students have had experiences with magnets, they generally have misconceptions about magnetism (Driver et al. 1994; Burgoon, Heddle, and Duran 2010). For example, students may think magnets can attract all metals or that larger magnets are stronger than smaller magnets. Students often confuse magnets with magnetic…

Examining Learner Autonomy Dimensions: Students' Perceptions of Their Responsibility and Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gamble, Craig; Yoshida, Keiko; Aliponga, Jonathan; Ando, Shirley; Koshiyama, Yasuko; Wilkins, Michael

2012-01-01

This paper was written to clarify misconceptions that East Asian students are somehow less autonomous than learners from other cultural backgrounds. Specifically, based on motivational levels, it examines Japanese university students' perceptions of their responsibility and ability of autonomous English learning and what they can do inside and…

American Images of Asia: Myth and Reality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyd, James W.; Crabtree, Loren W.

1980-01-01

Suggests a unit to help students confront their misinformed perceptions of Asia. Students examine seven misconceptions: unchanging Asia, the spiritual East, the indistinct Asia, the inscrutable art of Asia, the unscientific Asian, oriental despotism, and modernization as Westernization. (Author/KC)

Unlocking Creativity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antonietti, Alessandro

1997-01-01

Debunks five misconceptions about improving creative thinking. To encourage students to think creatively, instructional techniques should reflect an integrated set of mental skills, use materials mimicking real-life situations, consider students' beliefs and tendencies toward creative thinking, show metacognitive sensibility, and foster a creative…

Teaching Probability: A Socio-Constructivist Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Sashi

2015-01-01

There is a considerable and rich literature on students' misconceptions in probability. However, less attention has been paid to the development of students' probabilistic thinking in the classroom. This paper offers a sequence, grounded in socio-constructivist perspective for teaching probability.

Utilization of hands-on and simulation activities for teaching middle school lunar concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roseman, Reni B.; Jones, Dyan L.

2013-01-01

A great deal of literature exists surrounding the misconceptions that students have regarding the moon, specifically how the moon phases and eclipses occur. These studies provide teachers with information regarding what misconceptions their students may come to the classroom with as well as some ideas as to how to approach and correct them. However, these methods are not always validated with classroom-based research, and much of the research that has been done is in the high school and college setting. As such, we have undertaken a study to investigate what a group of middle school students know about the moon pre-instruction, and how hands-on activities and computer simulations affect student learning and understanding of these topics. The results of this project show that neither supplementation was distinguishably more effective in improving student test scores, as measured by normalized gains; this may be an artifact of high pre-test scores, as described herein.

A Statistical Analysis of Activity-Based and Traditional Introductory Algebra Physics Using the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trecia Markes, Cecelia

2006-03-01

With a three-year FIPSE grant, it has been possible at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) to develop and implement activity- based introductory physics at the algebra level. It has generally been recognized that students enter physics classes with misconceptions about motion and force. Many of these misconceptions persist after instruction. Pretest and posttest responses on the ``Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation'' (FMCE) are analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the activity- based method of instruction relative to the traditional (lecture/lab) method of instruction. Data were analyzed to determine the following: student understanding at the beginning of the course, student understanding at the end of the course, how student understanding is related to the type of class taken, student understanding based on gender and type of class. Some of the tests used are the t-test, the chi-squared test, and analysis of variance. The results of these tests will be presented, and their implications will be discussed.

STUDENTS IN BRUNEI DARUSSALAM.

PubMed

Lim, A G; Chong, V H; Salleh, S M; Poh, S H

2017-03-01

Sexually transmitted infections (STI) remain an important public health issue globally, particularly among the young population. Despite being preventable and curable, STI continue to spread. Lack of access to treatment is an important factor in many developing and underdeveloped nations. Lack of awareness and knowledge is another important factor. This study assessed the awareness, knowledge, and misconceptions among secondary school students on STI. Overall, awareness was poor but better among male students and those in the Pure Science academic streaming. Similarly, the knowledge level of STI was also poor: low level (63.0%), moderate level (34.4%), and high level (2.6%). Male students (p=0.014) and Pure Science academic streaming students (p<0.001) scored better. There were misconceptions, but poor knowledge was predominant. Common sources of information were teachers, health professionals, Internet, parents and TV programs. Based on our study, more needs to be done to improve the awareness and knowledge level of STI, and detailed inclusion into the educational curriculum may be a consideration.

Diagnosing alternative conceptions of Fermi energy among undergraduate students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Sapna; Ahluwalia, Pardeep Kumar

2012-07-01

Physics education researchers have scientifically established the fact that the understanding of new concepts and interpretation of incoming information are strongly influenced by the preexisting knowledge and beliefs of students, called epistemological beliefs. This can lead to a gap between what students actually learn and what the teacher expects them to learn. In a classroom, as a teacher, it is desirable that one tries to bridge this gap at least on the key concepts of a particular field which is being taught. One such key concept which crops up in statistical physics/solid-state physics courses, and around which the behaviour of materials is described, is Fermi energy (εF). In this paper, we present the results which emerged about misconceptions on Fermi energy in the process of administering a diagnostic tool called the Statistical Physics Concept Survey developed by the authors. It deals with eight themes of basic importance in learning undergraduate solid-state physics and statistical physics. The question items of the tool were put through well-established sequential processes: definition of themes, Delphi study, interview with students, drafting questions, administration, validity and reliability of the tool. The tool was administered to a group of undergraduate students and postgraduate students, in a pre-test and post-test design. In this paper, we have taken one of the themes i.e. Fermi energy of the diagnostic tool for our analysis and discussion. Students’ responses and reasoning comments given during interview were analysed. This analysis helped us to identify prevailing misconceptions/learning gaps among students on this topic. How spreadsheets can be effectively used to remove the identified misconceptions and help appreciate the finer nuances while visualizing the behaviour of the system around Fermi energy, normally sidestepped both by the teachers and learners, is also presented in this paper.

Learning Electron Transport Chain Process in Photosynthesis Using Video and Serious Game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Espinoza Morales, Cecilia

This research investigates students' learning about the electron transport chain (ETC) process in photosynthesis by watching a video followed by playing a serious board game-Electron Chute- that models the ETC process. To accomplish this goal, several learning outcomes regarding the misconceptions students' hold about photosynthesis and the ETC process in photosynthesis were defined. Middle school students need opportunities to develop cohesive models that explain the mechanistic processes of biological systems to support their learning. A six-week curriculum on photosynthesis included a one day learning activity using an ETC video and the Electron Chute game to model the ETC process. The ETC model explained how sunlight energy was converted to chemical energy (ATP) at the molecular level involving a flow of electrons. The learning outcomes and the experiences were developed based on the Indiana Academic Standards for biology and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for the life sciences. Participants were 120 eighth grade science students from an urban public school. The participants were organized into six classes based on their level of academic readiness, regular and challenge, by the school corporation. Four classes were identified as regular classes and two of them as challenge classes. Students in challenge classes had the opportunity to be challenged with more difficult content knowledge and required higher level thinking skills. The regular classes were the mainstream at school. A quasi-experimental design known as non-equivalent group design (NEGD) was used in this study. This experimental design consisted of a pretest-posttest experiment in two similar groups to begin with-the video only and video+game treatments. Intact classes were distributed into the treatments. The video only watched the ETC video and the video+game treatment watched the ETC video and played the Electron Chute game. The instrument (knowledge test) consisted of a multiple-choice section addressing general knowledge of photosynthesis and specific knowledge about ETC, and an essay section where students were asked to interpret each part of a diagram about the ETC process. Considering only the effect of treatments on score gain, regular and challenge groups reached higher scores in the posttest in comparison to the pretest after playing Electron Chute in both section of the test. However, the effect of treatments between the classes for each treatment was inconclusive. In the essay, the score gain was higher in the challenge than the regular class, but there was not a significant difference between both classes in the multiple-choice section. In regard to the learning outcomes, the initial model provided by the ETC video was mostly effective on addressing the misconception related to the oxygen production, which derives from the photolysis -or splitting-of the water molecules. Playing Electron Chute was effective on addressing most of the misconceptions targeted in the instruction design used for study. Most of these misconceptions were related to ATP and NADPH production and the cell structures where the ETC process takes place. At the end of the video+game learning treatment, a survey was used to collect data about students' experiences while playing the game. The majority of students agreed that playing the game increased their ability to explain how plants use light energy, but only about a third of them felt they could explain how ETC worked. Enjoyment and need for more explanations were different between students who attended the regular and challenge classes. The majority of the students who attended a regular class indicated they liked the ETC video and playing Electron Chute, percentage of agreement that was significantly higher than students who attended the challenge class. As a result, more students in the regular class indicated an interest in learning other science concepts like ETC. Students who attended the regular class reported that clear rules about how to play the game were helpful for learning. Further, the challenge group indicated the video and the Electron Chute game could include more explanations. These results suggest the video and game learning experience has the potential for engaging students’ interest in science when they participated in a regular class. This study also demonstrates a principled approach for designing a video and game to illustrate important methods for creating content knowledge that supports students’ ability to make sense of how complex systems work. Through more refinements of the game, the learning experiences could be a viable learning experience that accommodates the needs of a diverse population of students who might prefer different learning methods.

Guided Online Group Discussion Enhances Student Critical Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gokhale, Anu; Machina, Kenton

2018-01-01

A teacher's objective is to provide students the cognitive strategies that enable them to think critically, make decisions, and solve problems. In order to guide student learning, teachers should be aware of the concepts that are prerequisite to the understanding of others and also of typical student misconceptions. The goal of this study was to…

The Effect of Online Collaboration on Middle School Student Science Misconceptions as an Aspect of Science Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wendt, Jillian L.; Rockinson-Szapkiw, Amanda

2014-01-01

This quantitative, quasi-experimental pretest/posttest control group design examined the effects of online collaborative learning on middle school students' science literacy. For a 9-week period, students in the control group participated in collaborative face-to-face activities whereas students in the experimental group participated in online…

The Oceanography Concept Inventory: A Semicustomizable Assessment for Measuring Student Understanding of Oceanography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arthurs, Leilani; Hsia, Jennifer F.; Schweinle, William

2015-01-01

We developed and evaluated an Oceanography Concept Inventory (OCI), which used a mixed-methods approach to test student achievement of 11 learning goals for an introductory-level oceanography course. The OCI was designed with expert input, grounded in research on student (mis)conceptions, written with minimal jargon, tested on 464 students, and…