Week 2 Discussions – Facades of Misconception
“Why dose this metal fork feel cold after we removed it from the hot water?”
“Well, ‘cold’ goes inside of the fork so it feels cold.”
“Actual, heat is a type of energy. Without heat, something feels cold. In the case of this metal fork, this type of material allows for heat to easily move around.”
In our grade two class, we are investigating the relationship between hot and cold. Most of the students assume that that cold is a concrete and physical attribute that can be exchanged. However, it is the absence of heat that makes something feel cold. If I didn’t ask the question about heat, I may not be able to correct this faulty idea.
Through the video and the selected readings, it is apparent that learners come into a classroom with prior knowledge. More specifically, Piagetian believers would agree that learners have schema (i.e. their own understanding) and ideas about the way and the way it operates. At the time of the début of this theory, the idea that learners have their own independent thoughts and inferences is groundbreaking. Confrey (1990) radically suggest that children are equipped with a personal set of knowledge and perspectives about scientific or mathematical concepts. Other constructivist theorist like Fosnot joins the scholarly conservation and together they propose the idea that knowledge is a variable that can be altered.
More specifically, some misconceptions can be altered if properly exposed and handled. Posner, Hewson & Gertzog (1982) discusses the processes of altering thinking concepts. Misconceptions are rather resilient attributes. However, under favorable conditions (e.g. viable solutions after confrontation of the theory) accommodations can happen. For example, accommodating can happen by linking accurate information with “prior experience, images, or models which make them appear intuitively obvious and which make competing concepts seem not just wrong but virtually unintelligible.” (Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog, 1982, p.213-214)
The narrator in the video also claims that Heather benefitted from having the opportunity to explain and apply her reasoning. Thus, Heather rejects her faulty assumptions about the shape of Earth’s path since it was insufficient to explain her ideas asked by the production team. This explicitly demonstrates the fact that students will not keep faulty ideas if it fails to solve immediate problems. “Central concepts are thus not judge in terms of their immediate capacity to generate correct predictions. They are judge in terms of their resources for solving current problems” (Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog, 1982, p.213)
How should misconceptions be handled and assuaged?
In more recent research, Shapiro (1988) believes that children should be co-architect of knowledge. Upon further inspection, what learners require is an opportunity to reflect about their learning and to apply the understanding in unfamiliar circumstances. The video also suggests that misconceptions require confrontation. Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog (1982) insist that learners can increase immunity to misconceptions by increasing commitment to viable concepts and fruitful experiences.
Making Thinking Visible
Following these ideas, it is important to explore tangible and mobile solutions to encourage externalization of thoughts. Simply, reflecting about their own ideas and verbally materializing thoughts may be sufficient. With these reflective practices, students slowly and objectively unpack ideas to expose misconceptions.
Recent research in technological tools makes reflection an effortless process. There are more digital options to reflect upon experience and demonstrate understanding. Ingram, Williamson-Leadley & Pratt (2015) agrees that ‘Show and Tell’ mobile solutions encourage dedicating a reflective space and time. The application promotes an active reflection of understanding. Beyond providing a reliable and safe place to make learning and thinking visible. Hence, students are more aware of themselves as learners. This is consistent with Confrey’s (1990) discussion about students developing more confidence as they envision learning. More specifically, the scholars believe that students benefit from customizing personal interface and sharing about their mathematical understanding (Ingram, Williamson-Leadley & Pratt, 1016).
In computer supported collaborative learning environments, thinking can be tracked, promoted, evaluated and self-regulated (Lin, Preston, Kharrufa & Kong 2016). Using a touch screen table sized device, users can physically manipulate and reorganize information. They can easily define and redefine the way in which pieces of information are connected to each other. These scholars also claim that these technological tools provide an explicit overview of user’s thinking process. Directional features encourage users to evaluate their thinking process.
It is apparent that there are more mobile tools to help expose faulty thinking and more strategies to reflect concepts. This may positively influence learners by helping them develop habits to assess and retain accurate conceptual understanding.
Discussion Questions
How has the development of communicative landscape influence reflective process?
How was your experience using reflective technology?
Reference
Cone, J., Rowe, S., Borberg, J., & Goodwin, B. (2012). Community Planning for Climate Change: Visible Thinking Tools Facilitate Shared Understanding. Journal Of Community Engagement & Scholarship, 5(2), 7-19.
Confrey, J. (1990). A review of the research on student conceptions in mathematics, science, and programming. Review of research in education, 16, 3-56. http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1167350
Ingram, N., Williamson-Leadley, S., & Pratt, K. (2016). Showing and telling: using tablet technology to engage students in mathematics. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 28(1), 123-147. doi:10.1007/s13394-015-0162-y
Lin, M., Preston, A., Kharrufa, A., & Kong, Z. (2016). Making L2 learners’ reasoning skills visible: The potential of computer supported collaborative learning environments. Thinking Skills And Creativity, 22303-322. doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2016.06.004
Posner, G. J., Strike, K. A., Hewson, P. W. and Gertzog, W. A. (1982). Accommodation of a scientific conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change. Sci. Ed., 66: 211–227. doi: 10.1002/sce.373066020.
Sharples, M. (2005, April). Learning as conversation: Transforming education in the mobile age. In Proceedings of conference on seeing, understanding, learning in the mobile age (pp. 147-152). Budapest: Institute for Philosophical Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Alice;
Nice post, it made me reflect on Digital Portfolios!
How has the development of communicative landscape influence reflective process?
I use digital portfolios to make learning visible to my students. As educators, it is our job is to model, guide, and scaffold learners’ understanding and so they can become reflective and skilled in self assessing.
Kelli Vogstad (2015) key principles of digital portfolios
Documentation that shows growth over time through revisited curriculum tasks or experiences, demonstrates concrete change in abilities, skills, behaviours, attitudes, and understanding.
Artifacts that invite student reflection and analysis of student learning, incorporate the thinking operations of observing, comparing, contrasting, analyzing, hypothesizing, imagining, and making conclusions.
Evidence that demonstrates student behaviour and growth in the three competency areas: thinking, communicating ideas, and personal/social development, reflects meaningful and relevant learning across all curriculum areas and provides opportunities for students to show their learning in a variety of ways.
Digital portfolios are a positive and inviting experience for my students to discuss their learning and lend itself to conversations to discuss and “retain accurate conceptual understanding”.
~Mary
Digital Portfolios . . . Making the Learning Visible. (2015). Teaching and Learning With Heart. Retrieved from https://kellivogstad.com/2015/08/31/digital-portfolios-making-the-learning-visible/
Dear Mary,
Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate that you connected critical thinking skills and e-portfolios. Your ideas are supported by Demir & Kutlu (2016). These researchers found that e-portfolios support the development of skillsets required for self-regulation, creativity and feedback. Qualitative findings suggest that students develop their weaknesses and are more able to positively pursue research.
Nelson (1999) also recognizes the importance of annotation. He proposes that parallel annotation system can support users analysis and detailed understanding. The new typographic freedom expands the choices for annotation. There are more primary friendly annotation choices. For example, students can add visual or auditory annotations.
Another benefit of e-portfolio is that most applications are cloud based. Thus, students can annotate at leisure regardless of time and place. This also opens communicative channel for home/ school connection. Students’ work is synchronous across platforms.
An area of concern is that it is crucial for education leaders to ensure that they continue to pursue ad-free solutions. More importantly, all-in-one solutions are also easier to implement in primary. At the high school level, it is easier to utilize a variety of tools. Older students are better at handling multiple log-ins.
Alice
Reference
Demir, B. b., & Kutlu, Ö. k. (2016). The Effect of Electronic Portfolio Applications on 6th Graders’ Research Skills. Education & Science / Egitim Ve Bilim, 41(188), 227-253. doi:10.15390/EB.2016.6724