INTRODUCTION

Children enter the classroom with pre-existing

ideas or prior-knowledge which are sometimes

different or not parallel with scientific
knowledge.

Misconception are concept that are not parallel

with the science concept/scientific explanation.

Research indicates that misconceptions

are ;
Can coexist with
scientific
concepts

Can also be
found even
among expert.

Not easily
displaced

Misconception

Are extremely
common
among small
children

Hinder(mhlg)
acceptance of
scientific
knowledge

What are
misconceptions?
Mental models that differ in significant ways
from the models you expect your students to
develop
Conceptual and/or reasoning difficulties

exhibited by your students

What are
Misconceptions

Misconceptions might also be referred to as;

- preconceived notions,
- non-scientific beliefs,
- naive theories,
- conceptual misunderstandings.
Basically, in science these are cases in which
something a person knows and believes does
not match what is known to be scientifically
correct.

Misconceptions
Most people who hold misconceptions are

NOT aware that their ideas are incorrect.

Are misconceptions a
science thing?
Misconceptions have been extensively studied

in science.
It is possible that they were studied in science
first.
But, misconceptions exist in whatever
discipline someone has looked.

Misconceptions
All children's conceptual frameworks

developed from their experiences and

change as they mature.
Usually their intuitive understanding

of the world around them does not

agree/parallel with the scientific
explanation/concept

Where do misconceptions
come
from?

Personal experience in the world

Experiences in school
Informal learning
Language usage

One of the most common sources of

misconceptions is the fact that our everyday

language is often at odds with science
Though the connotation of "misconception" is

negative, the formation of these ideas often

represent a child's effort to organize and
understand the world around him/her

Techniques to identify
misconceptions

Interview about instances

(temubual)
Questionnaires (soal selidik)
Prediction (ramalan)
Observation (pemerhatian)
Explanation (penerangan)
Research (penyelidikan)

Common Earth Science Misconceptions

The Earth is larger than the Sun.
The Earth is round like a pancake .
Rain comes from holes in clouds.
Rains comes from clouds' sweating.
Rain occurs when clouds are shaken.
God and angels cause thunder and lightning

because they are angry

Moon and sun are about the same size. Stars
are smaller than sun or moon.
The earth is the largest object in the solar
system.

Common Earth Science

Misconceptions
Night occurs when sun covered
by clouds, moon
The sun is always directly
overhead
The moon can only be seen
during the night, and its shape
always appears the same.

Common Misconceptions about Energy

Energy can be changed completely

from one form to another (no

energy losses).
Things use up energy.
An object at rest has no energy.

Common Misconceptions about

Magnetism
All metals are attracted to a magnet
All silver colored items are attracted to a
magnet.
Larger magnets are stronger than smaller
magnets.
The magnetic and geographic poles of the
earth are located at the same place.
Only magnets produce magnetic fields.
In a magnet, the magnetic field lines exist
only outside the magnet.

How do they affect the

learner?
Being told that their model is wrong, or being
told the correct model DOES NOT HELP MUCH!

How should they affect the

teacher?

Teachers must understand that

misconceptions exist and that they have
consequences for the learner
Teachers must make an effort to determine
what old misconceptions are present and
what new ones are being created

How should they affect the

teacher?

Teachers must help students correct their

misconceptions
Simply telling students that their model is

wrong doesnt help

Telling them the correct model doesnt
necessarily help

How should they affect the

teacher?

To help students correct their misconceptions

you must provide opportunities for them to:
Test their model
See for themselves that it fails to generate

correct answers

Then you can help them build a correct model

NOTE that teachers were and still are

learners. TEACHERS ARE LIKELY TO HAVE

MISCONCEPTIONS IN NO WAY DIFFERENT
THAN THOSE HELD BY THEIR STUDENTS!

Whats the take home

message?

The job of the teacher is to . . .

HELP THE LEARNER TO LEARN!

Then as teachers we need

to
.
.
.

Know what impediments to learning our

students are grappling with
Provide our students with the resources (or
learning environment) that will help them
move beyond those impediments

This means creating

an interACTIVE
learning environment

STUDENT

TEACHER

"OBJECTS"
OF
DISCIPLINE

STUDENT

STUDENT

In such an environment students can best

challenge their own models and determine for

themselves whether they work. Once they
appreciate that their models fail under certain
conditions they are more likely to build a
correct model.

Displacing misconceptions. How?

Misconception can be displaced and student

will accept a scientific conception if ;

a. Student understand the scientific concept.

b. Student believe the scientific concept.
c. Scientific concept is useful to the student in
interpreting, explaining and predicting
phenomena.
d. Student progressively gains expertise in
using the scientific concepts.

Strategy to displace Misconception

Misconceptions hinder the acceptance of

scientific concept and explanations. So

misconceptions is not easily displaced by using
traditional teaching strategy .
Teachers must use learning and teaching

strategy that can help the student to

reconstruct and displace their misconception
Seeing is believing ( do experiment)

Teaching and learning method /strategy that

can help the student to displace their
misconception
A. Interactive learning
B. Learning cycle model
C. Analogy
D. Conceptual Change Teaching

A. Interactive learning (Hume 1992)

Invovle teaching and learning steps as follows
PREPARATION ( Persediaan )
BEFORE VIEWS ( Pdgn sebelum)
EXPLORATORY ACTIVITIES (Aktiviti penerokaan)
INVESTIGATION (Penyelidikan)
AFTER VIEW (pandangan selepas)
REFLECTION (refleksi)

b. Learning Cycle Model

It invovle three phase;

a. Exploratory Phase (Fasa Penerokaan)

- Children were given objects and they were ask to predict which
of the given objects sink and float. Children were challenged to
make the sunk object to float.

b. Inventory phase (Fasa Penciptaan )

- Children together with the teacher define the concept related to
the activity eg. weight, volume, surface tension, density and
Archimedes Principles.

c. Application phase (Fasa Aplikasi)

- Children apply the concept in the new situation.

Eg applying the
concept in making different layer of liquid with different density.

c. Analogy
Stavy (1991) says analogy strategy can help

to change children misconception.

Eg Children were asked to do activity below;

a. Differentiate two types of solution that

contain the same amount of sugar but

different amount of water.

a. Differentiate temperature of different

amount of water that were heated at the

same time and from the same source.

d. Conceptual change teaching

Almost the same as Interactive learning. It invovle steps as follows;

a. Introduction ( Pengenalan )-children were given activity related to the topic

b. Review ( Ulasan ) teacher ask the children to explain about the concept and try to understand children concepts.
c. Learning Focus (Fokus Pembelajaran)- teacher discuss about the concept or problems related to the concepts that was taught.
d. Learning development.(Perkembangan pelajaran)
- Student explain about the concept taught.

d.

Conceptual change teaching

e. Investigation (penyiasatan) children invovle

actively in the investigation to varify the
concept.
f.

Discussion and Presentation (Perbincangan

dan Pembentangan )
-children present their findings and share the
information with peers and teacher.

g. Conclusion (Rumusan)
- teacher help the children to do the conclusion
and apply the concept in daily life.

Conceptual change.
1. Diagnose students misconceptions multiple

choice, open-ended questions, listen to pupils

ideas
2. Structuring experiences and the learning
environment so that there are opportunities for
students to "test out" their ideas and prove the
correct concepts to themselves.

e. Concept Map
Shows relationship among ideas(concepts).
It is a diagram that visually shows how

concepts are related.

It can make the meaning of ideas and term
clear and can help u to understand the whole
concept.
It consist of nodes and labeled lines. The nodes
correspond to important terms in the domain.
The line refer to the relationship between the
concepts.