We spent time looking at misconceptions in science teaching. It was so exciting to be involved with group of teachers who were eager to look at how they teach science.
A major conclusion that we drew whilst discussing misconceptions...is that your words matter. Even teaching the younger learners, as a teacher you must be exactly accurate with your terminology.
Poor choices of words when teaching or mixing similar but scientifically different words in your explanations can cause misconceptions in a learner's understanding that you may struggle to shift. e.g.
- should you mass or weight ?
- should you use respire rather than breathe?
- how do explain how energy 'works' ?( see an earlier blog post)
- should I use particles/molecules/atoms?
Common misconceptions ( click on the link, you can print them for use)
How many of these misconceptions are due to poor/wrong use of scientific terms?
Click on the link above and test yourself! Problems...comment on the blog...I'll answer any queries.
(Examples are from UK Dept of Education training on misconceptions)
This is so true. I have discovered that some educators do not use the proper terminology when learners are in lower grades for Maths. This may lead to them struggling with some concepts in later years. For example the use of the word equation. It means that two amounts are equal and has the equal (=) sign in it e.g. 5+2=3+4. When it comes to doing equivalent fractions learners do not grasp that the fractions are equal even though they look different. As the word equivalent comes from the word equal. "Words do Matter" Should we introduce the word Equation and at what earliest level?
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