SamCATS Science Misconceptions

This article was about the misconceptions children aged 12 to 16 have about classifying animals. Vertabrates were classified as such if the animal had a hard body or shell-like covering. Invertabrates were classified as such if the animal was "able to bend" like a snake or eel. Mostly the look of the animal was what the child would look at to determine what the animal was. (Ex: a bird was a bird; a whale was a fish; a penguin was considered a mammal because of its body covering.) In the classroom, these misconceptions and difficulties could be counteracted by showing many examples and non-examples of each class of animal. The children should also be encouraged to challenge their idea by working with a partner or group to defend their belief.

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Development of Children's Ideas on Motion

Micheal Shemesh & Shalamith Eckstein. (1993). "Development Of Children's Idea's Of Motion", Physics teacher, Volume 93, pgs 299-304. Submitted by Kristin J. Askari, Science Methods, Spring 1997

After reading the article"Development of Children's ideas on motion" it was more obvious why some children experinence Science misconceptions. Take for instance this two part investigation of the ideas of children regarding projectile motion. Throughout, the first part, students in grades 4-9 responded to open ended questions over projectile tranjectories, and justified reasons for their responses. The written responses were carefully studied to find which concepts in mechanics are used by physics- naive students, and to find the frequency of their use as a function of grade. One other varisable of concern was which was measured is the number of concepts used by pupils as a function of grade. The use of concepts in mechanics by the pupils was described naturalistically. The second study peimarily focused on, 631 students in 2nd - 12 th grades predicted trajectories for a ball moving in a table. The distribution of these predictions over categories and sub categories were carefully studied. Whereas Physics students predictions of foward motion for slower and faster bodies in motion, was found that younger children typically predict " straight down" motion for both. The varied responses indicate strict adherence to the "straight down" belief or the law of support decreased as a function of age, while the proportion of Newtonian responses increased the pupils who believed that there was foward motion for both the slower and faster both typically proved realistic, parabola - like tranjectories for both, while pupils who believed that the slower ball fell staight down typically showed tranjectories which correspond to impetous theory. The authors suggest remediation for these misconceptions to be done by having the teacher become aware of the nature of the preconceptions that are common at each age level, in order to undermine them with physical evidence. Also, it is necessary to be aware of the science concepts used by children, and the meanings which are attached to them. Overall, the article does not list any real apecific examples to use, but as long as a teacher is familiar with these suggestions hopefully no real problems will exist or they will quickly be cleared up.

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Earth is Round

Lightman, Alan and Sadler, Philip. 1988. "The Earth is Round? Who Are You Kidding?", Science and Children , volume 25, number 5, page 25-26. Submitted by Brandi Archer , science methods, Spring 1997

One of the first facts children learn in school is that the Earth is round. Today, studies done in the United States and Israel indicate that by fourth grade half of the children still believe the Earth is flat. Nvertheless, children are still sturggling with the notion of what they are being told about their world and what they see with their own eyes. The biggest difficulty to accept the Earth is round is that to children and others, the Earth appears flat. One way to attack this difficult obstacle is to show children that some things can indeed look flat even when it is obviously not. Start by inflating a bolloon and having each child place his or her cheek against the balloon. Tell the child to close his outer eye and with his inner eye look out over the surface of the balloon. Ask the child to describe what he sees. The surface should appear flat to the child if the balloon is big enough. As the child backs away, the object will appear round. The teacher should then emphasixe that when you look at an object close up, it always looks flat. Students should now realize that an object is not necessary flat just because it looks flat, same as the planet Earth. However, some children might still believe the Earth could still be flat. A second way to attack the obstacle is to again heve the child's cheek against the balloon, with her inner eye closest to the balloon looking at the horizon. At this point the teacher would slowly move a toy ship across the surface of the balloon toward the child. While doing this ask the child what she sees. The child should first see nothing. When the ship first appears in her view she will see only the top of the ship. As the ship moves closer to her she shuold see more nad more of the bottom of the ship until she sees the ship in full view. At this point the class should begin talking about the curve surface of the balloon relating it to the Earth. Even though strong theories are very difficult go give up for children, they can be corrected with simpele every day materials.

Environmental Distractions

Tod Schimelpfenig. (1994). "Risk Management for Wilderness Programs", Experiential Education: A Critical Resource for the 21st Century, 377 014, 6 pages. Submitted by Laura Brasher, Science Methods, Spring 1997

Science misconceptions include staff infallibility, inaccurate information and assumptions, and personal and environmental distractions. The article includes prevention strategies for the misconceptions. It tells why things happen and how to correct things.

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Ice Skates

William J. Beaty.1997."Recurring Science Misconceptions in K-6 Textbooks,Internet,http:www. eskimo....iscon/miscon4.htm1. submitted by Sharon Murphy, Science Methods, Spring 1997

This website address' science misconceptions that are currently being printed in school textbooks. Some of the misconceptions are; *Ice skates do not function by melting ice by pressure. *There are not 92 naturally occuring elements. *Light from the sun is not parrallel light. *In an aircraft wing, the difference in curvature between the top and bottom surface is not the source of the lifting force. *Sound does not travel better through solids. *Gravity in space is not zero. * For every action, there is not an equal and opposite reaction. *Ben Franklin's kite was never struck by lightning. *The main lens of your eye is not inside the eye. *When one prism splits light into colors, a second identical prism cannot recombine them. *Clouds, Fog, and shower-mist are not made of water vapor. *Air is not weightless. *Shadows vanish on cloudy days, but not because the sun is not bright. These and many more science misconceptions are addressed on this web page. The author extends an open invitation for comments and encourages readers to add their own misconceptions to the list.

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How Plants Get Their Food

Armstrong, James. 1995. "Prior Knowledge, Text Features, and Idea Maps" Technical Report No. 608, 27p Submitted by Syble Simmons, Science Methods, Spring 1997

Eight preservice elementary teachers were interviewed on two topics in science. The first was "how plants get their food" and the second was "air and weather". They read elementary textbook selections on these topics and constructed an idea map represented in the idea maps were inaccurate with respect to text information. Analysis of topic-knowledge assessments and videotaped map constructions showed that misconceptions and task constraints contributed to the misrepresentation of scienctific concepts in the idea maps made by seven of the presevice teachers.

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A screw is a simple machine.

Edwin F. Meyer III. 1995. "A Simple Machine in Action", The Physics Teacher, Vol. 33, pg28. Submitted by Tracie Dossman, Science Methods, Spring 1997

In the article "A Simple Machine in Action," the author writes about how a industrial research center stumbled across a quality control test. The test proved to be a fine example of the use of a screw as a simple machine. The humor of this situation is that the technicians running the test were unaware that the device they were using was a simple machine. Many times these technicians had performed this task without realizing that the machine they were using helped them perform a task very easily. I would approach this with my class by first explaining to them what an inclined plane is. Next I would show them how a screw is actually an inclined plane. I would show this by rapping a paper inclined plane around my pencil. Thus, making a diagram of a screw. I would stress the importance of even though it might take longer, it is done with less effort.

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Weather

Stephans, Joseph & Kuehn, Crhistine. (1985). "What Research Says:Children's conceptions of weather", Science and Children, 23, 44-47. Submitted by Susan Fredd, Science Methods, Spring 1996

The authors recognize five developmental categories emerging from the responses given by children regarding origin of various types of weather. Examples include:

Feelings of Participation (explanations include veliefs in magic)

Animism attributing life to inanimate objects)

Artificialism (things happen for the good of life -- it's raining because the crops need it so badly

Finalism [explanation for everything -- Jack Frost makes snow (nonreligous finalism) or Rain is the tears of God and angels (religious)]

True Cuasality (accurate explanations of physical phenomena)

Weather Folklore

M. Gail Jones and Glenda Carter. ( 1995). " Weather Folklore: Fact or Fiction?"Science and Children , September 1995, volume 33, number 1, page 19,20,and 51. submitted by Ruth Black, Science Methods, Spring 1997. This article deals with common folklore of weather predictions. Versions of various weather-related folktale will vary by geographical regions. Children are asked to gather weather-related family folk-lore from grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles,etc. Children will record frequencies of different stories, find the most common and then put the investigations to the test. The children will make observations between the folklore and actual weather conditions to test the validity of the folklore.

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