Hey All,
So let's take a minute here to discuss a very important topic. In class, Dr. Kat talked to us about misconceptions about science that are commonly held by people. Some topics that children and adults have misconceptions about are: why the earth has four seasons, whether air has mass, why the moon has different shapes, etc.
As i said in a previous post, children are natural scientists. They have so many questions about why things are the way they are in the world. Sometimes they are able to come up with their own explanation that seems logical. Sometimes they ask an adult, and the adult gives them the answer that they think is right but is actually quite wrong. Also, an adult may make up an answer for a child instead of actually looking up the correct answer. These misconceptions are hard to correct in the classroom. If a student has been holding on to a belief for a long period of time, it is hard to convince them that their belief isn't true.
We watched a few videos, and it seems that some teachers are unaware that some students are still holding on to misconceptions about certain topics even after a lesson has been taught about it. I think it is important to always do some sort of assessment at the end of a lesson to make sure that students are grasping the information that is being taught. In a video that was shown in class, a students was having a hard time understanding that the earth's rotation around the sun was a circular pattern. The student believed that the earth had a rotation that was basically all over the place. It worried me because I don't want my students to leave my class not remembering the information that I taught them. The assessment does not have to be a test or anything graded. Just a little something special to make sure that they understand the content that was taught in the lesson.
I found a video on YouTube about misconceptions that I found quite interesting. I do still question a few of them, but for the most part, the video was very informative. You all should take a look at it, and tell me if something stood out to you!
Until next time,
Christina
Christina, I loved the misconception video! I have known about the majority of them. There was one in particular that i have not heard of. Aristotle said that we have 5 senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch), but actually we have between 9 and 20 senses. I was familiar with the one that states it is not true the average human swallows 8 spiders per year while sleeping. The one that stood out to me in this video was the fact that it is not possible to accurately predict earthquakes. This reminded me of the movie I watched a few weeks ago called "San Andreas." The scientists in the movie were trying to develop a technology that would predict earthquakes. The statement made in the video makes me want to further investigate this topic.
ReplyDeleteThe one about the spiders was mind boggling to me! I couldn't believe that anyone would believe that in the first place!! I'll have to watch that movie you mentioned. It seems interesting. Thanks Jennifer!
DeleteI watched the whole video with my 11-year-old son who asked to watch it again. Like Jennifer, I had heard of many of these, but some of them were new to me. I was really happy that I did not know about the eating eight spiders myth and am super happy that it is not true. I will probably take the time to watch this video and then pause it while googling the misconception. Great find!
ReplyDelete