Anyone fancy answering this question?
Which of the following will make a model car run faster down an inclined ramp?
a) increase gradient of ramp
b) increase friction of ramp surface
c) increase mass of model car
#ASEChat#ASEChat
The thing is, no matter how good we think we are getting at science teacher it seems children come to our lessons with some pretty hard wired ideas which are difficult to change. What are the ones that immediately spring to mind? #asechat
The thing is, no matter how good we think we are getting at science teacher it seems children come to our lessons with some pretty hard wired ideas which are difficult to change. What are the ones that immediately spring to mind? #asechat
Is misconception the right word? Some of them may be age appropriate concepts. E.g it is incorrect to think of matter as being made of spherical particles but it is appropriate to a point. Stemming from this do models help or hinder understanding? #asechat
Maybe ITT includes a few examples, but raises awareness that we should dig into prior knowledge that will elicit going down the wrong track and thus inform planning #asechat
Do you direct them to CLISP https://t.co/Sa3F8GBBft Children's learning in science, it a little old now but I bet the misconceptions are still true #ASEchat
Do you direct them to CLISP https://t.co/Sa3F8GBBft Children's learning in science, it a little old now but I bet the misconceptions are still true #ASEchat
Many ‘misconceptions’ are ways of thinking about phenomena based on personal experience and are consistent with the wider experiences a person has. To the holder they are not incorrect and therefore hard to change #asechat
Yes @johnleach12 would call them alternative conceptions, which isn’t quite so negative for the child (or from a teacher perspective thinking of that child) #asechat
Many ‘misconceptions’ are ways of thinking about phenomena based on personal experience and are consistent with the wider experiences a person has. To the holder they are not incorrect and therefore hard to change #asechat
Isn't this where Zone of proximal development comes in? Give them the challenge of explaining something using their misconceived way of thinking? #ASEchat
People like @oboelizzy are researching these questions now #ASEChat But rather than uncover misconceptions ('70s, 80's) the focus is on why and how they develop #ASEChat
The problem is alternative conceptions gives validity to something that is still not, ultimately and fundamentally, correct. As we like in a world with alternative facts is there a place for alternative concepts in science? #asechat
This then relies on the teacher having a good understanding to ensure the misconception is being addressed. This requires subject knowledge and an understanding of scientific conceptual development in children - a big ask? #asechat
Increasing mass probably will speed it up, the friction increase shouldn't alter it unless it alters the rolling resistance. Are you saying science teachers wouldn't answer gradient? #asechat
Fly to the moon. Your weight will change but your mass will stay the same (unless you trap your arm in the door of your moon lander and loose it...)
I go gory. #asechat
As a curriculum designer I think there is a role for objectives/statements in a written curriculum to be as clear as possible to minimise the risk of misconceptions arising and to have some curriculum statements to directly address common misconceptions #asechat
I think the problem is not accessing but processing. Often own SK not deep enough to build in knowledge of misconceptions and/or not enough time on top of rest of planning. #asechat
The teacher needs a good understanding of science to recognise a misconception (subject knowledge) and also a good understanding of teaching (PCK) to do something about it that is effective #ASEChat
Interesting that you mention own SK, maybe this is why some ideas don't get addressed , teachers own ideas not clear enough especially when there are many non specialists out there #asechat
I think the problem is not accessing but processing. Often own SK not deep enough to build in knowledge of misconceptions and/or not enough time on top of rest of planning. #asechat
So calling them alternative concepts is misleading. Age appropriate concepts is my preferred term - which become misconceptions if they are left unaddressed over time. #asechat
Trying to sit on the fence does no one any favours. It is time the community agreed to adopt a single explanatory model of energy - or just give up using the term #ASEChat
So what strategies do people use to ‘uncover’ these age appropriate concepts #asechat You have to know they are there and know what they are thinking to even start to address them #asechat
My friend Phil Scott once released a peach and a water melon from the roof of the STEM Learning building to demonstrate to teachers on a physics course the effect of gravity on objects of different mass #ASEChat#messy
They do and as we know it is why its so important that CPD is aligned with this. Do you think teachers accept this? Is it too hard to admit that your PCK and SK is not good enough? #ASEchat
In reply to
@ViciaScience, @MarcNeesam, @NeedhamL56
@Viciascience 's first question is a good model maybe with more possible answer. Good quality questions a much-overlooked part of lesson planning. spending 5 minutes to create 5 good questions for a lesson would go a long way #ASEchat
Energy is a fascinating topic. One problem is the use in curriculum, with many referencing the more colloquial forms and use of energy rather than the scientific. This causes confusion and misconceptions. That’s before the difference in approaches across the sciences! #asechat
#asechat Hinge questions/diagnostic questions/ concept cartoons/ true or false statements trying to find ways to uncover what students are thinking - use mini white boards a lot and drawing diagrams
So what strategies do people use to ‘uncover’ these age appropriate concepts #asechat You have to know they are there and know what they are thinking to even start to address them #asechat
As professionals I think we must acknowledge that we also have misconceptions, and that no amount of cpd will cure this as a 'problem'. Hence the need for reflection (on what we teach) and how to improve is an ongoing endeavour #asechat
And is it hardest among those teachers who we need to reach the most? The reluctant acceptors of CPD. Maybe the question for #ASEchat should be how do we address misconceptions among our teaching colleagues !!!
In reply to
@NeedhamL56, @ViciaScience, @MarcNeesam
It also comes down to what we as science educators agree is age appropriate. What are the expectations of a year 3 child? A lot of this becomes subjective and hard to ‘police’ #asechat
I really like Phil Scott and Eduardo Mortimers book “Meaning Making in Secondary Science”for analysing classroom talk, and allowing dialogic interaction to elicit ideas #asechat
And is it hardest among those teachers who we need to reach the most? The reluctant acceptors of CPD. Maybe the question for #ASEchat should be how do we address misconceptions among our teaching colleagues !!!
In reply to
@NeedhamL56, @ViciaScience, @MarcNeesam
#asechat I think one of the hardest things is to try and identify exaclty what students are thinking to find the point at which the understanding stops; I try to get students to this point as it makes the feedback more effective
so what is the earliest child misconception teachers have come across? Mine is that vision requires light coming from the eye to see an object - about 6-7 yrs old #ASEChat
Hello #asechat! These are also hard to address when they don’t know what they don’t know. Or what they think they know is the accepted truth. I’ve found this the same for children and adults.
In reply to
@agittner, @NeedhamL56, @ViciaScience, @MarcNeesam
#asechat Hinge questions/diagnostic questions/ concept cartoons/ true or false statements trying to find ways to uncover what students are thinking - use mini white boards a lot and drawing diagrams
So what strategies do people use to ‘uncover’ these age appropriate concepts #asechat You have to know they are there and know what they are thinking to even start to address them #asechat
#asechat One of the most helpful comments I had was from a Y11 doing displacement of halogen - 'So we're doing that practical where we add water to water'; from then on I have always included diluting the solution of the halogen alongside the displacement
Valuable for detection, Steve. The even harder bit is to find ways of changing the way people think. The best we got was the ability to hold on to two competing explanations for the same effect - everyday and scientific #ASEChat
My own kids used to turn on their "eye torches" so that they could see in the dark (that didn't last long I can tell you!!!) but then I believe Socrates or Aristotle believed that, sometimes history and philosophy of science has clues #ASEchat
Agree! and animals all have 4 legs, fur and a tail. This persists well into secondary. Cause possibly that young children cannot hold a hierarchical classification (if it is this then it can't be that eg a bee is an insect so cannot be an animal too ) #ASEChat
This is why explicit focus within a curriculum on some of these issues are important or it won’t be taught. When learning about the organ systems have an expectation to examine similarities across species would help (for example) #asechat
Most children can't confidently and accurately explain using either the correct or incorrect science so hard for them to learn from the difference. #asechat
so far we have discussed the classic 'Driver' list of misconceptions. People like @johnleach12 researched misconceptions in ecology and uncovered similar problematic areas #ASEChat
We also have the new @EducEndowFoundn report Improving secondary science which includes some of the research about the ideas students bring https://t.co/Hrnmryx3oY worth a look if you need some background to this topic #asechat
#asechat years ago built large scale demo for phases of moon shoe box viewing model on large scale only to suddenly realise I was reinforcing the wrong idea of earth orbiting moon causing phases,
What is interesting about science education is we are, unnaturally, compressing a lot of discovery into a short space of time and many misconceptions were around for centuries so shouldn’t be a surprise they a) happen and b) are hard to address. #ASEChat
With pri PGCE's I am going to introduce them to the force from an inflated balloon pushing a car to same balloon used to 'power' one of those CD air hockey things #asechat
#asechat while on subject of adults. Colleague asked recently why on Xmas day at lunch when you wear paper hat from cracker with no top does your head got warm? Does it? Why?
We do an experiment that clearly shows waves don't slow down as they travel. Large numbers of our students will argue in their conclusions that the expt showed the waves slowing down #asechat
In reply to
@dodiscimus, @agittner, @MarcNeesam, @NeedhamL56
It is instinctive that to cover so much ground we try to introduce short cuts which themselves cause problems. A balance between time pressures and good conceptual understanding. The real rod we make is on what we assess to be correct. #asechat
The final link Ive got to share is the Misconceptions unit from the Level6+ Nat Strats stuff https://t.co/IA0rTK3FEc good background, and help with helping students to make progress #asechat
ZPD zone of proximal development; its knowing enough phenomena or examples which cannot easily be explained with the most common misconceptions #ASEchat
We do an experiment that clearly shows waves don't slow down as they travel. Large numbers of our students will argue in their conclusions that the expt showed the waves slowing down #asechat
In reply to
@dodiscimus, @agittner, @MarcNeesam, @NeedhamL56
I think we introduce these shortcuts to help children score highly with written questions through memory (mnemonics etc) rather than help them understand the principles underlying written questions #ASEChat
Concept cartoons can help show that others may think the same so they’re not alone in their thinking. Exploring ideas is crucial and also recognising the lightbulb moments. And sharing your own! #asechat
Evidence, evidence, evidence. Ideally based on first hand experiences which are harder for someone to refute. Someone telling me I have a misconception 100 times is unlikely to shift me unless I see I am wrong. #asechat
I remember some work done involving children who scored highly in their exams, and yet still held on to a significant range of misconceptions. Seems they are the ones who could compartmentalise what they think as separate from what they need to know #ASEChat
Concept cartoons can help show that others may think the same so they’re not alone in their thinking. Exploring ideas is crucial and also recognising the lightbulb moments. And sharing your own! #asechat
Don't start that one... are there any misconceptions which can be allowed in the wider adult population or are we duty bound to challenge them all? #ASEchat
Is that what Vygotsky meant by ZPD. I always had it down as reducing the level of conceptual challenge to something that, with support, was achievable #ASEChat
OK, please continue to share any links you have to work that helps us
Identify
understand why they occur and
help to address/change
age appropriate conceptions in science #asechat
There is evidence that the areas of the brain involved in behaviour control are more active in science graduates when answering science questions, implying they maybe be good at science because they have learned to suppress wrong thinking #ASEchat
Even more powerful than concept cartoons is getting the class to vote on alternative solutions. Recognising others think differently is a great stimulus to questioning own views #ASEChat
Predict Observe Explain can sometimes be a good strategy for encouraging students to see their observations do not support their prediction. But as someone said earlier they don’t always accept that! #asechat
I think it depends on how it’s done. I honestly thought the uvula were tonsils until in my twenties...and my husband thought it was hysterical. But I’m glad I was corrected or I’d probably still believe it 😬 #asechat
If you have to actively learn and embed the correct version to replace the misconception, this is harder than just telling someone what they've got wrong. Does it need a different way of teaching? For students? For teachers? 😀#ASEchat
In reply to
@agittner, @ViciaScience, @MarcNeesam, @NeedhamL56
exactly, you give them a demonstration that is JUST beyond their current model then scaffold it to help them. It was what CASE was built on wasn't it? #ASEchat
My experience of using 'conceptual conflict situations' (carefully planned to address a generally held misconception) is at best 'indifferent' (see CLIS 'Teaching Approaches' documents for evidence) #ASEChat
Isn't it just good science.Someone asked me recently why didn't I go into politics. I would be a lousy politician because I keep changing my mind in light of new evidence? isn't that what science is; the best explanation taking into consideration the available evidence? #ASEchat
Since it's only 504 hours until the big day , we're allowed to talk about Christmas! For the next 12 school days we're giving away a prize a day in our Christmas giveaway, Follow, RT and Like to be in with a chance of winning, today's prize is a microscope #schoolscience#asechat
You’re right but many see science as a fixed body of knowledge. This is why working scientifically is a key part of the curriculum as it allowed focus on the process. #asechat
Sustainable presents - Love my new Frank Green reusable cup, even if it did leak STEM coffee inside my bag. Bonus is the discount applied by some coffee chains when using it #ASEChat
We've deleted an earlier version of this video that incorrectly described Sir David Attenborough as a 'naturist.' We of course meant to describe him as a naturalist. We regret the error.
