In the video A Private Universe, we were exposed to the notion that students have existing knowledge that can influence their learning when taught certain topics, and how many teachers are not aware of these misconceptions. In this video, Heather, is a very smart student, however when taught a simple concept and questioned about it, she would revert back to her own personal, private theories because that it what makes sense to her. Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghien, A. (1985) explain that children will likely have interpretations on a topic even before learning it since they form their own ideas from their everyday experiences, life, and conversations, and these ideas will often persist even when they are shown differently. When a student comes to school, they are not blank slates, and their previously acquired knowledge will effect how they interpret and understand new information.
As an educator it is important to be able to address the misconceptions that our students may have as a part of our educational programming. Erikson (1979), suggests that we allow students to become familiar with phenomena associated with a subject first in order for students to develop their own beliefs and ideas. By experimenting or modeling with manipulatives it can restructure or reorganize student beliefs before a lesson is actually taught. The idea of using hands-on learning was shown with Heather when she was able to use a model to explain the sun, moon, Earth relationship. She was able to better understand the concept. We also have to address the order in which certain concepts are introduced so that some of these misconceptions are not formed in the first place. Driver et al. (1985) explain that since every student will likely have different misconceptions, the same lesson taught can be interpreted differently by each individual student. These are all factors that we must take into account when encountering learning challenges.
In my own teaching experiences, I’ve found it very valuable to use something as simple as a KWL chart before a science lesson. This allows students to talk about what they already know about a topic and provides me with the time to see how much knowledge students already have and restructure their thoughts prior to beginning a lesson. A Private Universe supports this idea since they believe that the students need to be made aware of their private misconceptions so we can adjust them. Understanding that each student has their own ideas previous to learning a particular topic is essential as an educator of any age.
References:
Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghien, A. (1985). Children’s ideas and the learning of science. Children’s ideas in science, 1-9.
Erickson, G. L. Children’s conceptions of heat and temperature. Science Education 63, no. 2 (1979): 221-230.