Science teachers spend too much of their time and energy fighting students' misconceptions; in one study, college freshman engineering students were asked about what forces were acting on a coin after it is tossed. Before instruction, 12% correctly answered the forces were from gravity and air resistance (not the hand); after instruction, only 28% of students answered correctly -- many still believed the hand was acting on the coin. Student misconceptions about how things work can come from bad information or an attempt to rationalize natural phenomena without sufficient background knowledge.
Chapter Six in Vacca, Vacca & Mraz (2011) is entitled "Activating Prior Knowledge and Interest." The educational system is based on building students' prior knowledge so educators can present more in-depth and advanced material as students move from elementary to middle to high school and beyond. But as shown in the preceding study, prior knowledge can be fundamentally flawed and a student may cling to it even after instruction. Teachers need to identify misconceptions early on so they can address them specifically and they should make students aware of the misconceptions they hold so they can actively try to replace their preconceived notions with facts.
Anticipation guides are great tools for addressing misconceptions. First, it identifies what students think they know about a subject. This allows teachers to see what misconceptions their students have so they can specifically address them in class. Also, by making students aware of their prior knowledge on a subject before reading and after reading about it, you can spark metaocognitive awareness in the students. Once they are aware of their misconception, it is easier for them to actively replace their belief with facts.
Misconceptions are just another obstacle a science teacher must to overcome in order to be effective. Anticipation guides are a great way to do address possible preconceived notions addressed in a reading.
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