
Importance of assessing and addressing student preconceptions and misconceptions.
Will Sophia be able to see her shirt by standing farther away from the mirror? If you are like me, you might say “Yes”.
Why don't you try this out yourself and see what happens?

Growing up, our education system was not designed to consider the effects of preconceptions or misconceptions. Our teachers, for the most part, ignored the science behind learning and found it easier to blame us, the students, for lack of attention. Even now, as parents, sometimes we get frustrated by how quickly our children forget important science concepts. In our impatience, we blame our children but we never try to understand why this happens. Fortunately, we have science. Science can not only help us understand why this happens but also help us figure out how to improve our instructions to overcome the challenge of misconceptions.
- KWL Charts
- Concept Assessment Tests
- POE (Prediction-Observation-Evaluation)
- Concept Maps
- Two/Three Tier MC Questions
- Thought Experiments
No !
There are better ways of handling this.
The correct way of handling misconceptions is by creating a conflict within the child's knowledge schema which he or she will then be forced to resolve. In other words, we have to create a scenario where they themselves will realize the flaw in their understanding and self-correct. How do we create these conflicts ? Through Active Learning strategies. These are learning strategies where the student is an active part of the learning process instead of just being a passive recipient. Some common examples of active learning strategies are hands-on activities, investigations, simulations and group discussions. These are all great tools of creating conflicts that can then be used to correct misconceptions. At Advanced Learning Space, our Facilitators are trained to create these conflicts and then guide students through the process of self-correction. Our lesson plans include tools that not only help identify misconceptions but also outline ways and activities to address them. This is a very important part of our learning framework that has been ignored for too long in our formal educational systems.