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A Model Of Concept Acquisition and Maintenance: Why is it so difficult change the science misconception in the students?
Dr. Hector Joel Alvarez
Concept development occurs through stages along the individual life. Vigotsky, Piaget, and more recently Keil, sustain that during these stages concepts change in relation to experiences. Since Piaget, the naive explanation of scientific concepts that children have, was been studied and analyzed by different researchers. Most of the researchers sustain that conceptual change is the result of specific experiences, but recently Keil suggests that the concepts are imbedded in a theoretical frame and for a person to achieve a conceptual change from the naive to the more scientific concept, the theory framework should change. This explains, why the so called misconceptions are so difficult to change, and also the observation that changes in one domain do not imply a change in another domain. One aspect that is very important in this phenomenon is the acquisition process of the naive concept. Why dopeople construct the naive concept? What are the processes that lead to a particular construction?
After the analysis of different research efforts as well as and my own on concept acquisition and development, I propose the following model to explain the formation of misconceptions. Concepts are the result of the interpretation of the experience an individual lives in interaction with the environment and other human beings. The acquisition of knowledge since the moment of birth – some authors believe since before – and during the first years of life are mainly through the senses. Children develop ideas about how the world works according to what they perceive. Sensations and their particular interpretations lay down the material from which children develop their first concepts. Because the nature of the information and the interpretation the children internalize, their explanation and beliefs of how the natural world functions is not adequate from our – scientific - perspective, but it is functional to the children. Concepts such as temperature converted to cold and heat, weight opposed to mass, density equal to viscosity, light emanating from the eyes, solidification changing the matter (water liquid, ice solid), and matter is only what we see, are only a few examples of this stage. It is important to note here that scientific concepts are different from the every day, normal functioning concepts people have and use. Scientific concepts are developed by the community of practitioners after a long time of experiencing the natural world using specialized skills and procedures to dismiss the obvious. Soon during child development – from two years of age – the development of language is very rapid and really dramatic through the interaction of children with older people. The language acquisition and utilization process create other routes to develop concepts. In this stage, concept formation is mediated by the interaction with older and the same age people. Concepts are formed and validated as they served to communicate ideas to fulfill needs of all kinds and basic relations among the community that shares the particular body of concepts. The meaning of words associated with scientific concepts are very different for us and the layperson. Just a few example are: work, speed, velocity, heat, weight, color, food, density, growth and development, transpiration, fruits, vegetables and so on. So the use of language to communicate ideas in daily life validates the particular concepts we have in the cultural context. Above all this structure of concept formation, the particular culture which the individual lives culminates the natural process, imposing the beliefs, prejudices, myths, and vision of the world. Language is part of the culture, but because its peculiar influence, I separate it as a factor of concept formation. It is important to say that the stages exist and coexist during the entire life of the individual once they become functional. These three sources of concept formation create what Keil call the theory or theories in the different domains where all concepts are imbedded.
When children arrive to school, they already have the natural concepts developed during five or six years of experiencing the world in their particular cultural settings. Scientific concepts in many occasions are counter- intuitive, and in many cases go against the naive logic – from the scientific perspective - that children have. The explanations teachers give to students are most of the time out of reach, because of their abstract nature they are not related to or compatible with the observation the children already have experienced. Our pretension to change the theoretical conceptual framework of children, developed by experiencing the natural world and using it in their daily lives with other human beings is too ambitious. We need to know the nature of the naive concepts children have and become aware of the special nature of scientific concepts to provide real experiences and situations where children’s concepts are challenged. When their concepts can not be explained or do not respond to what is observed or logically deduced, we have a chance to present to the student the need for a new framework that fits the situation they experience.
OVERCOMING STUDENTS
MISCONCEPTIONS IN PHYSICS:
THE ROLE OF DYNAMICS SYSTEMS MODELING
JOAQUIN
MEDIN MOLINA
PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS
UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT BAYAMON
A strategy for dealing with misconceptions based on the use of computer modeling and simulation of physical dynamical systems is described and illustrated with examples. The following steps are included in this strategy: preconception activation through a focal problem, use of analogs that elicit valid intuitions of the student, use of bridges between analog and focal problem, construction of a dynamical model, simulations of the model that challenge the wrong conceptions or that reinforces the valid conceptions, simulation of extreme cases. This approach presuppose that any change in our physical image of the world is the result of a failure of predictions or expectations. If there is no such failure there is no need to change our image of the world. Computer modeling can be a powerful tool to strengthen our capability to learn the right conceptions from failure. Simulating our mental models with the computer provides rapid and unambiguous feedback to the learner allowing a kind of “unlearning by doing”. The current development of extremely user friendly software to do modeling and simulation is rapidly bringing a Democratization of modeling in education and increasing the feasibility of pursuing this strategy. A more active and constructive involvement of students taking physics at the university level and a better disposition to transfer what they learn to broader contexts are to be expected.
Mildred
Huertas, Ed D
Universidad del Este
A qualitative study was performed using interviews, focus group, and observations with 15 pre-service Biology teachers during their last semester prior to graduation. Several vignettes narrating biology scenes were used to stimulate the conceptual explanations about evolution and adaptation. The purpose was to collect students’ expressions and analyze them using a guide.
Findings revealed that almost all the students used teleological language (final causes concerning design and purpose in nature) to explain the studied concepts, instead of scientific language (cause-effect with accepted theoretical basis). Most of them have environmental-Lamarckian-naturalist believes that conduct to misconceptions in evolution and adaptation.
A remarkable finding was that participation in the focus group, using dialectics, became an enlightening experience for the students, since an opportunity raised to clarify many misconceptions. Students expressed that this type of strategy (dialectics in focus group) should be incorporated in Biology courses. A constant argument against passive-lecture style courses was also expressed.
On assessing misconceptions in General Chemistry students and the effectiveness of active learning to overcome them
Josefina Arce, PhD
Department of Chemistry
University of Puerto Rico‑Río Piedras
Several typical misconceptions students bring to the General Chemistry course have been identified. A conceptual inventory of basic scientific and chemical concepts has been given at the beginning of the course to assess conceptual misunderstandings of incoming students. Interactive demonstrations and cooperative learning activities have been developed and used in the General Chemistry course to address these misconceptions and develop higher level thinking skills. The chemical inventory was again given at the end of the one‑year course and improvements in conceptual understanding were assessed. Examples of typical misconceptions and the activities carried out to help students overcome them will be presented.