Types of scientific misconceptions

In general, scientific misconceptions have their foundations in a few "intuitive knowledge domains, including folkmechanics (object boundaries and movements), folkbiology (biological species configurations and relationships), and folkpsychology (interactive agents and goal-directed behavior)", that enable humans to interact effectively with the world in which they evolved. That these folksciences do not map accurately onto modern scientific theory is not unexpected. A second major source of scientific misconceptions are instruction-induced or didaskalogenic

Didaskalogenic

Given their inherently abstract nature, many scientific concepts, such as Newton's Laws of Motion, directly conflict a "working" and immediate understanding of the world. Where this is the case, such conceptual conflicts can give rise to serious obstacles to students' acceptance and understanding...

  misconceptions.

Misconceptions can be broken down into five basic categories 1) preconceived notions; 2) nonscientific beliefs; 3) conceptual misunderstandings; 4) vernacular misconceptions; and 5) factual misconceptions (e.g., Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, 1997).

While most student misconceptions go unrecognized, there has been an informal effort to identify errors and misconceptions present in textbooks. The Bad Science web page, maintained by Alistair Fraser, is a good resource. Another important resource is the Students' and Teachers' Conceptions and Science Education (STCSE) website maintained by Reinders Duit. Another useful resource related to chemistry has been compiled by Vanessa Barker

Identifying student misconceptions

In the context of Socratic instruction, student misconceptions are identified and addressed through a process of questioning and listening. A number of strategies have been employed to understand what students are thinking prior, or in response, to instruction. These strategies include various forms of "real type" feedback, which can involve the use of colored cards or electronic survey systems (clickers). Another approach is typified by the strategy known as "Just in Time Teaching". Here students are asked various questions prior to class, the instructor uses these responses to adapt his or her teaching to the students' prior knowledge and misconceptions. Finally, there is a more research-intensive approach that involves interviewing students for the purpose of generating the items that will make up a concept inventory

Concept inventory

A concept inventory is a criterion-referenced test designed to evaluate whether a student has an accurate working knowledge of a specific set of concepts. To ensure interpretability, it is common to have multiple items that address a single idea...

. Concept inventories require intensive validation efforts. Perhaps the most influential of these concept inventories to date has been the Force Concept Inventory (FCI).
Concept inventories can be particularly helpful in identifying difficult ideas that serve as a barrier to effective instruction. Concept Inventories in natural selection and basic biology have been developed.

Addressing student misconceptions

A number of lines of evidence suggest that the recognition and revision of student misconceptions involves active, rather than passive, involvement with the material. A common approach to instruction involves meta-cognition, that is to encourage students to think about their thinking about a particular problem. In part this approach requires students to verbalize, defend and reformulate their understanding. Recognizing the realities of the modern classroom, a number of variations have been introduced. These include Eric Mazur

Eric Mazur

Eric Mazur is a prominent physicist and educator at Harvard University. Mazur is known for his work in experimental ultrafast optics and condensed matter physics and a national leader in science education...

's peer instruction, as well as various tutorials in physics developed groups at University of Washington and the University of Maryland.

Sources

Barker, V. 2004. Beyond appearances : students’ misconceptions about basic chemical ideas. 2nd edition (accessed on-line 9 Sept. 2008:

Charles, E.S. & S.T. d'Apollonia. 2003. A systems approach to education. PEREA report.

How Students Learn. 2005. A National Academy of Sciences Report.