Importance of assessing and addressing student preconceptions and misconceptions.
Wahid Banday
Published October 14, 2021
Sophia was super excited. It was picture day at school and she was wearing her favorite shirt. She wanted to see how she looked. She ran to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. When she stood close to the mirror, she could only see her face. She wondered, “What if I stand farther away from the mirror? I should be able to see more of myself, right?”
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?
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?
This is a classic example of a misconception. A misconception is an incorrect opinion or view that is based on daily life experiences. We all have misconceptions and while these are usually harmless for adults, they can be a major hindrance to learning for a student.
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.
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.
So where do misconceptions come from? They come from a wide array of interactions that a student has at home, school, when playing with friends or even while watching TV. Our everyday language can also be a source of misconceptions. For example, in Kashmir we often ask our children to close the door to a warm room in winter quickly as otherwise “heat will be let out”. What we don't realize is that this creates an impression that heat is a substance. Children start to think of heat as something that actually “moves” from one place to another and can “escape” through an open door. Later in school or in tuitions when the student is told that heat is a form of energy, they find it hard to reconcile this new definition of heat with their real world experience. As a result, they forget what they learned at school very fast! In their minds, there are two definitions of heat; one that is academic which they need to remember to answer questions in exams and the other that they experience in the real world. This is a major conceptual disconnect that needs to be addressed. Ignoring this will not only make it harder for students to remember the concept, but also be a major hindrance in their ability to apply the concept in more complex conceptual situations or questions.
At Advanced Learning Space, beyond discussions, we also use other tools to help identify student preconceptions and misconceptions. While a detailed review of these strategies can be a topic for a separate post, I will list the most common strategies we use below:
- KWL Charts
- Concept Assessment Tests
- POE (Prediction-Observation-Evaluation)
- Concept Maps
- Two/Three Tier MC Questions
- Thought Experiments
How do we find these misconceptions? The most basic and simplest way is by listening to the student. While this might be challenging in a regular school classroom, at Advanced Learning Space we limit our workshops to 16 or less students. We also use multiple techniques to promote student engagement. This gives us a great opportunity to identify misconceptions through discussions.
Once we have identified student misconceptions, how do we address them? Should we simply call them out and correct the students' understanding?
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.
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.