Every student has misconceptions about some subjects and their basic concepts. I want to find out the common common biological misconceptions among Xi grade students. Which tools could i used for this study?
A good, simple way to determine misconceptions students have is to present them with the topic you wish to cover, or ask questions related to the topic, and ask the students to write everything they know about that topic or answer the questions. Collect the responses and put the misconceptions on a whiteboard or on one of those giant easel presentation pads to stay for the duration of the lesson. As you cover material that contradicts one of the misconceptions, draw a line through it. Not only will you have identified misconceptions without putting individual students on the spot, but you will have a visual point of reference of those misconceptions that you will "remove" as the lesson progresses. It works on a neurological level, the same way behavioral therapists will have patients write down negative thoughts or past experiences and then tear up the pages and throw them away. It would probably work even better if each student had their own list that they could cross off as the lesson progresses.
Dear Chavan
You can develop a questionnaire of test items related to content of biology about which you want to find misconceptions or / and an interview schedule .
R S SINDHU
If you want to explore more on the students learning of the subject, you can use 'variation theory of learning' as a framework. The theory well explains 'misconception' or 'alternative conception' by the learners.
Dr Luneta Kakoma has written extensively on errors and misconceptions, check his articles
You can use Concept Maps (http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-of-concept-maps.php).
This tool have been extensively used as a scaffold for meaningful learning.
You can also find lots of papers regarding educational research using concept maps.
A good, simple way to determine misconceptions students have is to present them with the topic you wish to cover, or ask questions related to the topic, and ask the students to write everything they know about that topic or answer the questions. Collect the responses and put the misconceptions on a whiteboard or on one of those giant easel presentation pads to stay for the duration of the lesson. As you cover material that contradicts one of the misconceptions, draw a line through it. Not only will you have identified misconceptions without putting individual students on the spot, but you will have a visual point of reference of those misconceptions that you will "remove" as the lesson progresses. It works on a neurological level, the same way behavioral therapists will have patients write down negative thoughts or past experiences and then tear up the pages and throw them away. It would probably work even better if each student had their own list that they could cross off as the lesson progresses.
I'm with Jose. Concept mapping is a great way for students to represent how they are thinking about a topic. AND using CmapTools, it is easy for students to reconstruct their understanding as a course proceeds.
Some teachers are currently experimenting with clicker systems. At the beginning of a lesson, they will present a question that includes popular misconceptions and see how many in the class choose that response. They use this information to set priorities on the lessons that follow this experience.
Jane Heinze-Fry
Hello Rajendra.
One more thought. There is a biennial international conference in concept mapping. The papers presented at the conference are freely available on the web. This year's conference will be held in September in Estonia. You can find out more at:
http://cmc.ihmc.us/
Best wishes,
Jane Heinze-Fry
Hi Rajendra,
It seems that learners need to experience cognitive dissonance to overcome misconceptions.
Derek Muller of Veritasium had a great talk about making effective science videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQaW2bFieo8
You can find his video collection here: https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium/featured?spfreload=10
Getting learners to follow their own misconceptions as they learn new facts that don't fit with those misconceptions. Let them start to see how their worldview simply won't fit with the facts.
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