Maine Science Teachers Association Conference

Friday, Oct. 10 Gardiner H.S.

Student Misconceptions

They Think What?!

It’s winterBecause

The Earth isFarther awayFrom the sun

Tools to Elicit Student Ideas

• Quickie Questions

• Poor Man Clickers

• Student Drawings

• Concept Cartoons

• Analogy

Quickie Questions

• BEFORE introducing a concept

• How does an acorn become an oak tree?

• Students record responses individually

• Share responses with group

• Record responses to see commonalities

• Begin discussion of concept

Misconceptions

How They Can Linger

Harvard Video

Poor Man Clickers?

Sharing Class Data

Question #1• Of the following processes of the water cycle,

the one working against gravity is:– a) percolation through soil– b) runoff– c) evaporation– d) precipitation– e) none of the above

Question #2• Humans strongly affect the hydrologic cycle

through all of the following EXCEPT – a) water withdrawal in heavily populated areas– b) clearing vegetation for agriculture and

recreation (golf), using fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides

– c) boiling water– d) releasing dioxins such as chlorine and PCB’s

into lakes and rivers– e) none of the above

Question #3• The hydrologic cycle will naturally purify and

recycle fresh water as long as humans don’t– a) pollute the water faster than it is replenished.– b) withdraw water from groundwater supplies

faster than it is replenished– c) overload it with slowly degradable and

nondegradable wastes– d) all of the above– e) none of the above

Quickie Questions

• 1. The greenhouse effect is essential for human life?– YES NO I Don’t Know

• 2. Holes in the ozone will increase the greenhouse effect.– YES NO I Don’t Know

• 3. The greenhouse effect is primarily the result of human activity?– YES NO I Don’t Know

Tally the results before next class

• 1. The greenhouse effect is essential for human life? – 23/36 students said NO it is detrimental = 64%

• 2. Holes in the ozone will increase the greenhouse effect. – 32/36 students said YES!! = 89%

• 3. The greenhouse effect is primarily the result of human activity?– 30/36 students said YES!! = 83%

• “Some of the more complicated learning we have to do in life, and a lot of science is like this, involves not adding new information to what we already know, but changing the way we think about the information we already have. It means developing new ways of seeing things.”

• Driver (1997)

Learning Science Chapter 8 p. 86How People Learn

Student Drawings

Drawing and Teaching

Student Drawings Phase 1

• If you had a giant knife and could cut the Earth in half, what would it look like?– Put in descriptive labels and explain technical

terms.– Put people and volcanoes in the drawings.– Why do you believe this model?

• Where did your ideas come from? (Imagination, school, books, TV?)

Student Drawings Phase 2

• Get into a group– Share each others drawings– Pick 1 person to be the group recorder and record

similarities and differences– Recorder and another person go to butcher paper

and record class similarities and differences. Put a check next to any repeat answers.

– Class discussion

Concept Cartoons• Cartoon-style drawings showing

different characters arguing about an everyday situation.

• Designed to invoke thought and stimulate scientific thinking.

• They may not have a single “right” answer

Gallery Walk (Tools p. 153)

• Purpose:– Gallery Walk: An excellent tool for presenting

information and for having students work cooperatively and move around physically to prepare summaries. Students work together to identify their own misconceptions.

HOW IS A CELL LIKE A CITY?

• Questing1. Use Eukaryotic cell

components and functions as a guide

• Search for answers/Talk in small groups– 2. Create a Drawing– 3. Provide a comparison

key matching cell structure and function with city structure and function

• Gallery Walk• 4-6 groups• List the similarities

among each of the presentations

• List the differences among each of the presentations

• Report out

Eukaryotic Cell Structure and Function

• Plasma Membrane: Defines the cell boundary. Regulates molecules entering and leaving the cell

• Nucleus: Storage of Genetic information. Synthesis of DNA and RNA

• Endoplasmic Reticulum: Synthesis and/or modification of Proteins

• Golgi Apparatus: Processing, packaging, and distribution of proteins and lipids.

• Mitochondrion: ATP production provides the POWER for the cell

Group Instructions

• Get into groups

• Review the concept cartoon

• Determine which character is right and explain why (record on the white board).

Developing a Claim• Which character(s) did your group

agree with?• Why did you agree with a particular

character(s). Be sure to write a brief description

• How would you design an experiment to determine which character was right?

Experimental Design• What variables will you consider?• What will you measure?• What is your hypothesis?• How will you incorporate a

control?• How many trials will you run?• How will you record your data?

Web site for Concept Cartoons

Where to find them

http://www.conceptcartoons.com/index_flash.html

Modeling

• Drawing and the Carbon Cycle– Creating visual and manipulative models

to teach.– Carbon Cycle, Photosynthesis, Chemical

Processes, etc..

Mind Mapping the Greenhouse Effect

• Create symbols for each of the terms:– greenhouse effect, temperature, gases, atmosphere, Earth,

space, Longwave radiation (heat), shortwave radiation (UV light), methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, water vapor

– Construct the mindmap organizing symbols and terms– From your mind-map create a drawing illustrating the

greenhouse effect. Be sure to label all components of your drawing and describe each step.

– Write a summary paragraph describing the greenhouse effect, think of it as telling someone a “story” about how the greenhouse effect works.

Questionnaires

• Give at the close of a lesson to get ready for the next lesson

• Pose an open-ended question:

• Give students 5-10 minutes to respond

• Papers collected and reviewed prior to instruction

Questionnaire example

• Do you think you have any genes identical to those of a plant? If so why? If not, why not?

What I thought they already knew

Formative Assessment Probe in Biology