Misconception

Misconception

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Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! The participle made famous by Elvis. You might've seen this one before. The story of an imaginary word that managed to sneak past our editors and enter the dictionary.

How we chose 'feminism'. How to use a word that literally drives some people nuts. The awkward case of 'his or her'. Test your vocabulary with our question quiz! Examples of misconception in a Sentence Recent Examples on the Web There are instantly three things there that people have misconceptions about. Chicharito and the Art of Mexico's Synchronization," 3 May First Known Use of misconception , in the meaning defined above.

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Learn More about misconception. Resources for misconception Time Traveler! Explore the year a word first appeared. Dictionary Entries near misconception misconceit misconceive misconceived misconception misconduct misconnect misconnection. Time Traveler for misconception The first known use of misconception was in See more words from the same year.

More from Merriam-Webster on misconception See words that rhyme with misconception Thesaurus: The little research that has been conducted with different sub-groups of children and youth suggests that these strategies would be comparably effective with low-achieving children as well as with better performing children. We know very little about how these recommendations might vary by contextual factors, such as for children living in poverty and different kinds of family constellations.

We do know that misconceptions are quite universal. There is good reason to believe, however that most, if not all, of these recommendations for getting students over their misconceptions would be generally successful with most students. The little research that has been done with 7th through 9th grade urban classes that had many disadvantaged students suggests that these strategies would be effective for low-SES children.

There is no reason to believe that family variables would play any role in the effectiveness of these strategies. Brain, mind, experience, and school. Diagnostic models for procedural bugs in basic mathematical skills. Cognitive Science , 2, Taking science to school: Learning and teaching science in grades K Supporting and promoting argumentation discourse.

Studies in Science Education, 38, Effects of conceptual assignments and conceptual change discussions on students' misconceptions and achievement regarding force and motion. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, Promoting conceptual change in science: A comparative meta-analysis of instructional interventions from reading education and science education. Reading Research Quarterly, 28, Forging a National Network. The role of diverse instruction in conceptual change. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , 86, Refutational texts and the change process.

International Journal of Educational Research , 35, Learning and instruction 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Explaining the "at rest" condition of an object. The Physics Teacher , 20, Accommodation of a scientifc conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change. Science Education, 66, Mathematics and science learning: Implications of cognitive science research for mathematics education. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Psychology in learning and instruction.

Students' alternative conceptions of the human circulatory system: Science Education, 69 5 , Children's conceptions and misconceptions. Science and Children, 23 5 , Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of the causes of seasons. Journal of Research in Science Teaching , 33 5 , Case study applications in chemistry lesson: Gases, liquids, and solids.

Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14 4 , Children's understanding of astronomy and Earth sciences. Teaching science in 5th grade: Instructional goals that support conceptual change. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35 10 , Learning goals in an exemplary science teacher's practice: Cognitive and social factors in teaching for conceptual change.

misconception

Science Education , 83 6 , Entrenched beliefs, inconsistent information, and knowledge change. Proceedings of the conference pp. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. Using examples and analogies to remediate misconceptions in physics: Factors infuencing conceptual change.

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29 1 , Overcoming misconceptions via analogical reasoning: Abstract transfer versus explanatory model construction. International Science, 18, Journal of Science Teacher Education, 7 , Identity, Culture, and School. Sociology of Education, 79 4 , Vol. The development of conceptual structures. Perception, cognition, and language pp. Effecting changes in cognitive structures among physics students. Conceptual change within and across ontological categories: Implications for learning and discovery in science.

Cognitive models of science pp. University of Minnesota Press. The dual processes of generating inference and repairing mental models. Educational design and cognitive science pp. Commonsense conceptions of emergent processes: Why some misconceptions are robust. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 14, The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical framework and implications for science instruction.

Review of Educational Research, 63, An empirical test of a taxonomy of responses to anomalous data in science.

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Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35 6 , Children's responses to anomalous scientific data: How is conceptual change impeded? Journal of Educational Psychology, 94 2 , Promoting fourth graders' conceptual change of their understanding of electric current via multiple analogies. Journal of Research in Science Teaching , 42 4 , Students' preconceptions in introductory mechanics. American Journal of Physics , 50 1 , The effects of text structure in science learning and conceptual change.

Contemporary Educational Psychology , 28 3 , Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39 10 , Children's understanding of equality: A foundation for algebra. Teaching Children Mathematics , 6 4 , The role of implicit models in solving verbal problems in multiplication and division. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,16, Role of learning in cognitive development. Learning, motivation, and emotion 3rd ed. Primary teacher trainees' subject knowledge in mathematics.

British Educational Research Journal, 28 5 , Some long-term effects of uninformed conceptual change. Science Education, 76 2 , Learning counter-intuitive science concepts: What have we learned from over a decade of research? Early understandings of numbers: Paths or barriers to the construction of new understandings? Learning and Instruction , 8 4 , The development of biological knowledge: Cognitive Development , 8, International Journal of Educational Research , 35 7 , Semantic and conceptual development: Concepts associated with the equality symbol.

Educational Studies in Mathematics , 12, The learning and teaching of school algebra. The impact of teaching on students' definitions and explanations of astronomical phenomena. Learning and Instruction , 8 5 , University students' conceptions of different physical phenomena. Journal of Adult Development , 10 3 , Teachers' conceptions and misconceptions concerning three natural phenomena. Journal of Research in Science Teaching , 41, The equivalence of learning paths in early science instruction: Effects of direct instruction and discovery learning.

Psychological Science, 15, Middle school students' understanding of core algebraic concepts: International Journal of Mathematics Education, 37, Children's understanding of numerical variables. Mathematics in School, 7 4 , Do children and adults learn differently?

Journal of Cognition and Development , 7, Science Education, 5 , Changing middle school students' conceptions of matter and molecules. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 30 3 , Research in Science Education, 2 , Students' understanding of algebraic notation: Educational Studies in Mathematics, 33, Learning from texts that refute the reader's prior knowledge.

Reading Research and Instruction, 26, Developing epistemological thinking to foster conceptual change in different domains. Issues in theory and practice pp. When is an illustration worth ten thousand words?

Journal of Educational Psychology, 82 4 , Curvilinear motion in the absence of external forces: Why won't you change your mind? Knowledge of operational patterns hinders learning and performance on equations. Child Development , 76, Teaching for the development of understanding of ideas: Forces on moving objects. Perspectives from research and practice pp. Teaching science for understanding.

Current cognitive research pp. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. The concepts of planetary phenomena held by trainee primary school teachers. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 6, Prevalence of blood circulation misconceptions among prospective elementary teachers. Advances in Physiology Education , 29, Science Education, 66 2 , Overcoming Student Misconceptions about Photosynthesis: Classroom Projects and Curriculum Ideas, 45 1 , Conceptual bases of arithmetic errors: The case of decimal fractions.

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 20 1 , Some misconceptions concerning the concept of variable. Mathematics Teacher , 74, It's not enough to "do" or "relate". American Educator, 13 4 , , Errors and misconceptions of beginning pre-service teachers. Roche Eds , Building Connections: Research, Theory and Practice: Intermediate cognitive organization in the process of learning a mathematical concept: The order of positive decimal numbers.

Cognition and Instruction, 2, Children's judgments in theory choice tasks: Scientifc rationality in childhood. Cognition , 45, The Force Concept Inventory: A tool for monitoring student learning. Physics Education, 37 1 , Using a bridging representation and social interactions to foster conceptual change: Designing and evaluating an instructional sequence for Newton's third law.

Science Education , 89 2 , A study of students' pre-instruction theories of matter and a comparison of the effectiveness of two approaches to teaching about matter and density. Cognition and Instruction , 15 3 , Sixth-grade students' epistemologies of science: The impact of school science experiences on epistemological development.

Cognition and Instruction , 18 3 , Algebra students' knowledge of equivalence of equations.

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 22 2 , Let's try action research! Science and Children, 40, A conceptual change view of learning and understanding. A revisionist theory of conceptual change. Statue University of New York Press. Enhancing prospective teachers' knowledge of children's conceptions: The case of division of fractions. Journal for research in Mathematics Education, 31 1 , Capturing and modeling the process of conceptual change. Learning and Instruction , 4 1 , Mental models of the earth: A study of conceptual change in childhood.

Cognitive Psychology , 24, Cognitive Science , 18, Designing learning environments to promote conceptual change in science. Learning and Instruction , 11 4 , Implications from Research on Student Misconceptions and Difficulties.

School Science and Mathematics, 4 , Causal models, conceptual change, and science education. Cognition and Instruction , 10 1 , Inquiry, modeling, and metacognition: Making science accessible to all students. Cognition and Instruction , 16 1 , National testing and the improvement of classroom teaching: British Educational Research Journal, 26 1 , The point of words: Children's understanding of metaphor and irony. Assessing the impact of bridging analogies in mechanics. School Science and Mathematics, 6 , Teachers' misconceptions of the circulatory system.

Journal of Biological Education, 32 3 , Removing barriers to aid in the development of the student. Joan Lucariello, PhD, City University of New York with David Naff, Virginia Commonwealth University When teachers provide instruction on concepts in various subjects, they are teaching students who already have some pre-instructional knowledge about the topic.

Instructional strategies that can lead to change in students' alternative conceptions misconceptions and to learning of new concepts and theories: Do not rely solely on lectures. Do not rely solely on labs or hands-on activities. Do not rely solely on demonstrations. Do not rely solely on having students simply read the text. Do not rely solely on a singular perspective when there are multiple ways to interpret material. Assessing preconcecptions When presenting new information to students, it is helpful to first assess any preconceptions they have of the material.

For example, this tack was taken in a preliminary assessment of student knowledge when teaching students about climate change to measure: Understandings of the distinction between weather and climate. Knowledge about the concept of "deep time. Building on preconceptions After assessing student preconceptions about material, it is important to consider which components of their already acquired knowledge could be beneficial in building a more robust understanding of new concepts.

In presenting new concepts or theories, teachers should be sure to show these theories or concepts as: The new information should be shown to be consistent with other knowledge and able to explain the available data. Learners must see how the new conception theory is consistent with other knowledge and a good explanation of the data High quality.

However, the presented theory should take a better account of the data than what students currently have available to them. For example, the instructor should deal with the problem from the perspective of the students e. Hence, students must consider the quality of the new theory along with previously learned information. Teachers should do what they can to increase the intelligibility of the new theory. Learners must be able to grasp how the new conception works.

To increase intelligibility, teachers can use methods such as: Learners must be able to extend the new conception to new areas of inquiry. These problems can include familiar ones and new ones. A similar strategy teachers can try is the use of the "bridging representation. Newton's cannonball In this experiment Newton visualizes a cannon on top of a very high mountain. If the speed is low, it will simply fall back to Earth. A and B If the speed equals some threshold orbital velocity, it will go on circling around the Earth in a fixed circular orbit just like the moon.

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C If the speed is higher than the orbital velocity, but not high enough to leave Earth altogether lower than the escape velocity , it will continue rotating around Earth along an elliptical orbit. D If the speed is very high, it will indeed leave Earth. Several good methods help students think metacognitively: Inquiry cycle The inquiry cycle guides students' research and helps them understand what the research process is all about. It begins with formulating an investigable question.

misconception

It moves to a predict phase, wherein students generate alternative hypotheses and predictions with respect to the question. Next comes the experiment phase, wherein students design and carry-out experiments in the real world and on the computer. Students then move to the model phase, wherein they analyze their data to construct a conceptual model that includes scientific laws that would predict and explain their findings.

Finally, comes the apply phase, wherein students apply their model to different situations to investigate the model's utility and limitations. This raises new questions in the process and the cycle begins again. The reflective assessment component provides students with "criteria for judging research": Goal-oriented criteria, such as "understanding the science. There are a variety of ways that teachers generate cognitive conflict in the mind of the student: Conduct conceptual change discussions. Best ways to present anomalous data Of course, students might not accept the anomalous or contradictory data and therefore not change their minds.

Teachers can increase the chances of anomalous data being accepted and leading to conceptual change by: Also teachers can appeal to real-world data that students already know about as in the use of anchoring conceptions as described earlier in the bridging analogies strategy discussion Avoiding ambiguous data. Also, if teachers are aware of the specific misconceptions their students have, they can choose data, in light of that, that will be unambiguous to their students Presenting multiple lines of data when necessary.

This might be helpful because it appears that the more background knowledge in the topic students possess the more their misconceptions impede the acceptance of anomalous data Engaging students in justification of their reasoning about the anomalous data. Some activities that produce cognitive conflict when used in combination with text are: This activity has two components.

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