Avoidance from Thought Experiments: Fear of misconception
International Journal of Science Education, Volume 31, Issue 8 May 2009 , pages 1049 - 1068
Omer Faruk Ozdemir
Two independent lines of research—mental simulations and thought experiments—provide strong arguments about the importance of perceptual modalities for the instructional practices in science education. By situating the use of mental simulations in the framework of thought experiments, this study investigated the nature and the role of mental simulations in the context of problem-solving. This study draws on data collected through problem-solving sessions with five physics graduates. Throughout the problem-solving sessions, think-aloud and retrospective questioning were used. Results from this study support some serious concerns put forward by several researchers in the community of science educators about high dependence on descriptive forms of scientific knowledge and exclusion of perceptual modalities from instructional practices. The participants' verbal reports confirmed that they had implicitly or explicitly reached a conclusion that mental simulations were not a legitimate way of reasoning about physics problems, and they consciously avoided the use of mental simulations. This conceptualization seemed to lead participants to compartmentalize mental simulations from formal physics knowledge. Therefore, mental simulations were not refined but kept in a primitive form, which was no more than a retrieval of perceptual representations constructed through observations and experiences of the world. The speculations on the results of the study were based on the interpretations of learning science in terms of the refinement and reorganizations of preinstructional ideas.
Showing posts with label misconceptions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label misconceptions. Show all posts
2009-05-14
2009-04-19
Bouwma-Gearhart Stewart Brown - IJSE 2009
Student Misapplication of a Gas-like Model to Explain Particle Movement in Heated Solids: Implications for curriculum and instruction towards students' creation and revision of accurate explanatory models
International Journal of Science Education
Jana Bouwma-Gearhart; James Stewart; Keffrelyn Brown
Understanding the particulate nature of matter (PNM) is vital for participating in many areas of science. We assessed 11 students' atomic/molecular-level explanations of real-world phenomena after their participation in a modelling-based PNM unit. All 11 students offered a scientifically acceptable model regarding atomic/molecular behaviour in non-heated solids. Yet, 10 of 11 students expressed the view that, in response to added heat energy, atoms/molecules in a solid increase in movement to a degree beyond what is scientifically accepted. These students attributed a gas-like model of atomic/molecular movement to situations involving a heated solid. Of the students who held two conflicting models of atomic/molecular movement in solids, almost all provided justification for doing so, indicating their holding of the conflicting models was unproblematic. These findings can be interpreted to mean that students may drop constraints of certain scientific representations and apply, assess, or revise models when explaining unfamiliar phenomena. In fact, we believe students may develop conflicting causal models as a result of misperceptions they acquire, in part, during classroom instruction regarding atomic/molecular movement. However, our findings may also be interpreted as an incidence of student model development that may later aid their understanding of a more complex model, one that involves substantial sub-atomic electron movement to account for heat transfer in solids. Whether or not this is the case remains to be seen. Implications for student learning and instruction are discussed.
International Journal of Science Education
Jana Bouwma-Gearhart; James Stewart; Keffrelyn Brown
Understanding the particulate nature of matter (PNM) is vital for participating in many areas of science. We assessed 11 students' atomic/molecular-level explanations of real-world phenomena after their participation in a modelling-based PNM unit. All 11 students offered a scientifically acceptable model regarding atomic/molecular behaviour in non-heated solids. Yet, 10 of 11 students expressed the view that, in response to added heat energy, atoms/molecules in a solid increase in movement to a degree beyond what is scientifically accepted. These students attributed a gas-like model of atomic/molecular movement to situations involving a heated solid. Of the students who held two conflicting models of atomic/molecular movement in solids, almost all provided justification for doing so, indicating their holding of the conflicting models was unproblematic. These findings can be interpreted to mean that students may drop constraints of certain scientific representations and apply, assess, or revise models when explaining unfamiliar phenomena. In fact, we believe students may develop conflicting causal models as a result of misperceptions they acquire, in part, during classroom instruction regarding atomic/molecular movement. However, our findings may also be interpreted as an incidence of student model development that may later aid their understanding of a more complex model, one that involves substantial sub-atomic electron movement to account for heat transfer in solids. Whether or not this is the case remains to be seen. Implications for student learning and instruction are discussed.
2007-12-17
Hamza Wickman - Science Education 2008
Describing and analyzing learning in action: An empirical study of the importance of misconceptions in learning science
Sci Ed 92:141-164, 2008
Karim M. Hamza *, Per-Olof Wickman
Department of Curriculum Studies and Communication, Stockholm Institute of Education, SE-100 26 Stockholm, Sweden
email: Karim M. Hamza (karim.hamza@lhs.se)
*Correspondence to Karim M. Hamza, Department of Curriculum Studies and Communication, Stockholm Institute of Education, SE-100 26 Stockholm, Sweden
This study is part of the project How Can Teachers Aid Students Towards Scientific Reasoning funded by the Swedish Research Council.
Although misconceptions in science have been established in interview studies, their role during the learning process is poorly examined. In this paper, we use results from a classroom study to analyze to what extent nonscientific ideas in electrochemistry that students report in interviews enter into their learning in a more authentic setting. We audio-recorded talk between eight pairs of Swedish upper secondary students during a practical on electrochemical cells. Learning was operationalized on a discursive level as a description of what students do and say when taking part in an activity. This enabled an analysis of how encounters with misconceptions influenced the development of students' reasoning, compared to other encounters during the learning experience. Misconceptions did not constrain the development of students' reasoning. Rather, their reasoning developed in response to the contingencies of the specific situation. When misconceptions were encountered, they appeared as alternatives and questions not actively defended. Sometimes, encounters with these misconceptions were generative of the students' reasoning. The results indicate that demonstrating misconceptions in interviews is not enough to assume that they interfere with learning in other contexts. Educational implications and future lines of research based on these findings and on the methodology applied are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 28 November 2006; Revised: 2 July 2007; Accepted: 2 July 2007
DOI: 10.1002/sce.20233
Sci Ed 92:141-164, 2008
Karim M. Hamza *, Per-Olof Wickman
Department of Curriculum Studies and Communication, Stockholm Institute of Education, SE-100 26 Stockholm, Sweden
email: Karim M. Hamza (karim.hamza@lhs.se)
*Correspondence to Karim M. Hamza, Department of Curriculum Studies and Communication, Stockholm Institute of Education, SE-100 26 Stockholm, Sweden
This study is part of the project How Can Teachers Aid Students Towards Scientific Reasoning funded by the Swedish Research Council.
Although misconceptions in science have been established in interview studies, their role during the learning process is poorly examined. In this paper, we use results from a classroom study to analyze to what extent nonscientific ideas in electrochemistry that students report in interviews enter into their learning in a more authentic setting. We audio-recorded talk between eight pairs of Swedish upper secondary students during a practical on electrochemical cells. Learning was operationalized on a discursive level as a description of what students do and say when taking part in an activity. This enabled an analysis of how encounters with misconceptions influenced the development of students' reasoning, compared to other encounters during the learning experience. Misconceptions did not constrain the development of students' reasoning. Rather, their reasoning developed in response to the contingencies of the specific situation. When misconceptions were encountered, they appeared as alternatives and questions not actively defended. Sometimes, encounters with these misconceptions were generative of the students' reasoning. The results indicate that demonstrating misconceptions in interviews is not enough to assume that they interfere with learning in other contexts. Educational implications and future lines of research based on these findings and on the methodology applied are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 28 November 2006; Revised: 2 July 2007; Accepted: 2 July 2007
DOI: 10.1002/sce.20233
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