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Before setting foot in our classrooms, virtually all students have developed deep-seated incorrect beliefs or thought processes (misconceptions) about the science they are going to be taught.  These misconceptions are used to explain many things in each person’s life and as a result, most people develop less than accurate understandings of the natural world.  A major problem with replacing misconceptions is that ideas do not reside in splendid isolation in our minds.  They interact.  Each new concept we accept becomes part of a tapestry of beliefs.  These explanations, right and wrong, become so interwoven that trying to change one belief often requires rethinking and replacing many others.  This is a painful process and everyone goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid it, making true change very hard to effect.

When we teach without helping students confront their misconceptions, they typically retain less of what we teach them than when we first help them examine their incorrect prior beliefs.  By actively evaluating their ideas and reasoning processes, students are better able to compare their beliefs with what they are being taught.  It is so difficult to change beliefs that most students who undergo traditional lecture/recitation/lab training are instead prone to changing the new information we teach them to fit with their misconceptions.  This process leads to further incorrect understanding.  However, with our help, involving students in “thinking about their thinking” empowers them to change incorrect deep-seated beliefs. 

A variety of issues aimed at helping students learn better will be discussed.  These include: the origins of incorrect beliefs; our need to know common misconceptions in our fields that are held by our students; methods of helping students actively examine what they believe is correct knowledge; justifying to students the effort they will have to expend correcting their beliefs; and effective methods of helping students change their beliefs.   My  research in science education has  focused on my field of astronomy.  With the help of over 8000 students, I have identified over 1700 misconceptions and other incorrect beliefs about the cosmos.