{"id":2404,"date":"2017-05-21T08:46:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T15:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/?p=2404"},"modified":"2017-05-21T08:47:14","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T15:47:14","slug":"conceptual-challenges-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/2017\/05\/21\/conceptual-challenges-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Conceptual Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

In A Private Universe,<\/em> Heather struggles with exploring her understanding of the world. Her own personal theories are engrained and she has trouble abandoning them, even when she can be seen visually struggling with them. Heather is trying to put things together; trying to make sense of the concepts, but appears to confuse herself further. As a strategy, Heather draws out the concepts, attempting to explain her understanding of the seasons, but realizes that her new knowledge does not match with her preconceived theories. Posner, Strike, Hewson, & Gertzog (1982) would posit that Heather\u2019s dissatisfaction with her \u201cprivate universe\u201d has met a condition for conceptual change to occur. Further instruction from her teacher with correct information has put Heather on a path toward correcting her conceptual challenges.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From my experience with middle school students, many misconceptions around science (and in math) concepts stem from previous simplification, such as drawings that are not done in scale or songs developed to assist in memorization. \u201cStudents\u2019 minds are not blank slates able to receive instruction in a neutral way,\u201d (Driver, Guesne, Tiberghie, 1985). Much like the visual presented with the Earth\u2019s orbit, students\u2019 past experiences reading books with limited perspectives displayed (blue veins, 2D drawings), show a simplified (and sometimes incorrect) version of events. Other times misconceptions may stem from the very limited time that was spent on a concept \u2013 never to be revisited until many years later, or from teachers\u2019 own misunderstanding of concepts (Burgoon, Heddle, Duran, 2011). I believe that initial experiences with science are valuable and peek children\u2019s curiosity of the world around them, however, as we are learning, some students resort back to these incorrect schemes even after presented with additional information.<\/p>\n

What is encouraging is the role that technology can play in alleviating or correcting some of these initial misconceptions, for children, parents, and teachers. Children are able to explore and engage in simulations and 3D experiences with a variety of scientific concepts \u2013 and from an early age. Technology allows students to test a concept at school and often continue the learning or discussion at home if the technology is available. Correcting misconceptions in other ways, other than a worksheet or textbook, or talking to the teacher, allows the student to take ownership of their learning and can afford them choice.<\/p>\n

If we don\u2019t challenge and facilitate correction of students\u2019 preconceived incorrect beliefs, they will continue to build on these inaccurate or incomplete foundations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Burgoon, J.N., Heddle, M.L., Duran, E. (2011). Re-examining the similarities between\u00a0teacher and student conceptions about physical science. Journal of Science <\/em>Teacher<\/em> Education,<\/em> 22(2), 101-114. DOI 10.1007\/s10972-010-9196-x<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghien,A. (1985). Children\u2019s ideas and the learning of\u00a0science. Children\u2019s ideas in science, 1-9.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Posner, G.J., Strike, K.A., Hewson, P.W., and Gertzog, W.A. (1982). Accommodation of\u00a0a scientific conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change. Science\u00a0<\/em>Education,<\/em> 66, 211-227.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In A Private Universe, Heather struggles with exploring her understanding of the world. Her own personal theories are engrained and she has trouble abandoning them, even when she can be seen visually struggling with them. Heather is trying to put things together; trying to make sense of the concepts, but appears to confuse herself further. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1669382],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-conceptual-challenges"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2404"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404\/revisions\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}